THE 

MODERN TRAVELLER. 



POPULAR DESCRIPTION, 

GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL, 

OF THE 

VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE GLOBE. 

a- — — 

COLOMBIA. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED FOR JAMES DUNCAN ; 

OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH; M. OGLE, GLASGOW? 
AND R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN. 

1825. 



,C73 




LONDON : 
TKINTBD BY J. MOYES, BOUVEA1E STREET 



CONTENTS. 



PAGJ3 

BOUNDARIES OF COLOMBIA 1 

ANCIENT AND MODERN NAMES OF THE TERRI- 
TORY ib. 

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND POPULATION .... 3 

PROVINCIAL DIVISIONS - 7 

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION 11 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 12 

CUMANA 24 

FROM CUMANA TO THE CHAYMA MISSIONS 58 

CAVERN OF GUACHARO 78 

BARCELONA 102 

LA GUAYRA 105 

FROM LA GUAYRA TO CARACAS < Ill 

CARACAS 115 

EARTHQUAKE OF 1812 121 

STATE OF SOCIETY IN CARACAS 132 

REVENUE AND SALE OF BULLS ■ 144 

ENVIRONS OF CARACAS 155 

FROM CARACAS TO VALENCIA 160 

LAKE OF VALENCIA 183 

FROM VALENCIA TO PUERTO CABELLO 201 

LAKE OF MARAC AYBO 208 

PROVINCE OF VARINAS 220 



iv CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

FROM VALENCIA TO SAN FERNANDO D'APURE •• 223 

THE LLANOS 226 

FROM VALENCIA TO BOGOTA "...244 

MERIDA 257 

CUCUTA 266 

TUN J A 277 

CARTAGENA 282 

SANTA MARTA 296 

VOYAGE UP THE MAGDALENA 300 

BOGOTA -311 

FALL OF TEQUENDAMA 327 

LAKE OF GUATAVITA 333 

NATURAL BRIDGES OF ICONONZO 337 

FROM BOGOTA TO CARTAGO 341 

FROM CARTAGO TO CITE RA 351 

POPAYAN 356 

PANAMA 357 



DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 

Map of Colombia to face the Title. 

Chimborazo ,*« 13 

Passage of the Quindiu 344 

Haft on the River Guayaquil 355 



THE 

MODERN TRAVELLER, 

ETC. ETC. 



COLOMBIA. 

[A republic of South America, lying between lat. 11° 3(y N., 
and 6° 30' S. : bounded, on the N., by the Caribbean Sea ; on 
the E. by the Atlantic Ocean and Dutch Guiana ; on the S. by 
Brazil and deserts which separate it from Peru ; on the W. by 
Guatimala and the Pacific Ocean.] 

The well -chosen name of Colombia was assumed 
by the provinces formerly composing the vice -royalty 
of New Granada and the captain -generalship of 
Venezuela, on their incorporation into a Federal 
Republic in the year 1819. The country was dis- 
covered by Columbus ; and thus, more than three 
hundred years after his death, tardy justice has been 
done to his memory, by giving his name to that por- 
tion of the New Continent on which he first landed. 
The admiral, Herrera informs us, was so much de- 
lighted with the beauty and fertility of these regions, 
that, with the warm enthusiasm of a discoverer, 
he imagined it to be the paradise described in Scrip- 
ture, which the Almighty chose for the residence 
of man.* It was in the year 1498, in his third 

* Robertson's America, book ii. 
PART. I. B 



2 



COLOMBIA. 



voyage, that this great navigator discovered the coast 
of Paria and Cumana in the captaincy of Caracas. In 
the following year, Alonso de Ojeda, who had accom- 
panied Columbus in his second voyage, pursuing the 
same track, explored the coast as far as Cape de Vela. 
Having observed, near the lake of Maracaybo, the 
huts of an Indian village built upon piles, in order to 
raise them above the waters which overspread the 
plain, they called the place Venezuela, or little Venice ; 
and the name was soon extended to the whole pro- 
vince, of which Coro became the capital. Venezuela 
was first colonised, however, by the German mer- 
chants to whom the conquered provinces were 
assigned by Charles the Fifth. On their abandoning 
it in 1550, the Spaniards again took possession of the 
country. The city of Caracas, which subsequently 
became the seat of government, was founded by Don 
Diego Losada in 156J. It derives its name from the 
Indian nation who occupied the territory. Venezuela 
is the national name since adopted by the seven 
confederate provinces of the captain-generalship, the 
province of Venezuela being distinguished by the 
name of the metropolis.* The kingdom of New 
Granada was conquered by Sebastian de Benalcazar 
and Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada, about the year 
153G. The former, who commanded at that time 
in Quito, attacked it from the south, while the latter 
invaded it from Santa 3Iarta. The Indian name of 
the territory was Cundinamarca. It was erected into 
a captaincy -general in 1547, and made a vice-royalty 

* The captain-general of Caracas had the title of Captain- 
general of the Povinces of Venezuela and City of Caracas. 
Venezuela is now one of the ten departments of the Republic, 
including the provinces of Caracas and Yarinas. 



COLOMBIA, 



3 



in 17 18. That office was suppressed in 1724, but was 
finally re-established in 1740. 

These two grand political divisions of Spanish 
America, though now united under one federal 
government, differ most essentially in their physical 
aspect, and must always be considered as, in fact, dis- 
tinct countries. New Granada, which comprises the 
western provinces, is, for the most part, a mountain- 
ous region, consisting of the plateaus and valleys of 
the great Cordillera of the Andes, from Guayaquil to 
Merida, together with the plains of San Juan de los 
Llanos, and comprises every variety of climate. Vene- 
zuela comprises three distinct regions or zones ; the 
mountains and cultivated lands which skirt the 
northern shore, the savannas or steppes which extend 
from the base of the mountain-chain to the banks 
of the Orinoco, and the region of interminable forests, 
into which the traveller can penetrate only by means 
of the rivers that traverse them. In these three dis- 
tinct zones, the three stages of civilisation are found 
remarkably separate and distinct. The life of the 
wild hunter is pursued in the woods of the Orinoco ; 
the pastoral life in the llanos^ or savannas ; the agri- 
cultural, in the high valleys and at the foot of the 
mountains on the coast. Missionary monks and a 
few soldiers occupy here, as throughout America, 
advanced posts on the southern frontiers. Industry, 
intelligence, and the mass of the population, are con- 
centrated within the region bordering on the coast, 
which extends for above two hundred leagues along 
the Caribbean Sea, a sort of mediterranean, on the 
shores of which almost all the nations of Europe have 
founded colonies. Thus, though the captaincy- 
general of Caracas is considerably larger than 



4 



COLOMBIA. 



Peru,* containing nearly 48,000 square leagues (25 to 
a degree), the total population in 1800, was estimated 
by Baron Humboldt at not more than 900,000 souls, 
or about twenty inhabitants to a square league. Of 
these, the Indians are supposed to form a ninth ; the 
Hispano-Americans, or Creoles, nearly a fourth ; the 
European Spaniards, exclusive of troops sent out 
from the mother-country, not a sixtieth ; and the 
slaves, a fifteenth. f M. Dupons estimates the total 
population of the seven united provinces in 1801, 
at not more than 728,000 ; t and Colonel Francis Hall, 

* « Peru, since La Paz, Potosi, Charcas, and Santa Cruz de la 
Sierra have been separated from it, and joined to the vice-royalty 
of Buenos Ayres, contains only 30,000 square leagues." — Hum- 
boldt's Pers. Nar. vol. hi. p. 422. This appears, however, to be 
an erroneous estimate. The Author of " Letters from Colombia," 
(8vo. Lond. 1824, ) cites some statistical calculations, contained in a 
letter addressed by Baron Humboldt to Bolivar, in which the 
extent in square leagues of twenty to a degree, is stated as 
follows : 



And the Baron remarks, that the results differ from those inserted 
in the Pol. Essay on New Spain (vol. iv. 322). According to this 
estimate, Peru, instead of being little more than three-fifths of the 
extent of Venezuela, is nearly a third larger ! 

f In the province of Caracas, the slaves amounted to nearly 
40,000, one-fifth of whom were mulattoes ; in Maracaybo, to 
between 10 and 12,000; in Cumana and Barcelona, to less than 
6,000; in the llanos of Calabosa, San Carlos, Guanare, and Barque- 
cimeto, to between 4 and 5,000. M. Humboldt sets down the total 
at 60,000; to which add 100,000 Indians, 210,000 Creoles, 15,000 
Europeans, and there will remain 455,000 for the castes and free 
negroes. 

$ Of these, he calculated that two-tenths were whites, four- 
tenths " descendants of freed men," three-tenths slaves, and the 
remainder (one-tenth) Indians — Travels in Suuth America, vol. i. 
p. 106. For the gross inaccuracy of this statement, as regards the 



Venezuela, • • 
New Granada 
Peru 



33,700 
58,250 
42,150 



COLOMBIA, 



5 



a British officer in the service of the Republic, carries 
the population of Venezuela in 1810 no higher than 
825,000, since which period, he adds, u above half the 
inhabitants of Venezuela are supposed to have perished. 
The fertile provinces of Guayana, Cumana, and Bar- 
celona are almost abandoned, and the flourishing 
towns and villages of the plains are reduced to a 
grass-grown wretchedness, which scarcely leaves 
room to conjecture their former prosperity." The 
population of New Granada, this writer thinks, may 
be reckoned to have remained stationary, the natural 
increase of the last twelve years being balanced by 
the drains made to supply the waste of the Spanish 
and Republican armies. According to the calculation 
which he cites, made prior to 1810, it amounted 
to 2,430,000. Pombo, a Creole writer, who published 
in 1811 a Statistical Essay on New Granada, makes 
the population amount to 2,500,000 : the numbers in 
each province agree with the document cited by 
Colonel Hall, but 70,000 are added for Neyva and 
Veragua, which the latter omits. This calculation is 
considered by M. Mollien as an exaggerated one, 
because, adding 900,000 for Venezuela, which he 
assumes to be the agreed number of the inhabitants of 
the seven eastern provinces, it would form an aggre- 
gate of 3,400,000 souls, — an estimate, he remarks, 
44 little conformable to the census recently made by 
order of the present government." But the popula- 
tion of Venezuela, as we have seen, must not be taken 
higher than 6 or 700,000. The following is given by 

proportion of slaves, M. Humboldt can account only by supposing 
that the French Traveller was misled by an error in the figures. 
Instead of 218,000, the whole black population of the captain- 
generalship should have been 54,000, or, in round numbers, 60,000, 
as stated above. 



6 



COLOMBIA. 



M. Mollien as a statement of the present population 
of New Granada : 

Whites 250,000 

Mestizoes 400,000 

Indians -450,000 

Mulattoes 550,000 

Free negroes and slaves • • 94,600 

1,744,600 

This agrees with M. Humboldt's calculation, who 
states the population in 1800, in round numbers, 
at 1,800,000, and the superficial extent of the vice- 
royalty at 64,520 square leagues, which gives not 
quite thirty inhabitants to the square league. In this 
statement, the province of Veragua is, we suspect, not 
taken into account. The minuter details furnished 
by Pombo and Col. Hall's authority, entitle their state- 
ments, however, to be received as a nearer approximation 
to the truth. Taking the medium, we may conclude 
that the population of New Granada does not fall 
short of two millions ; and adding 650,000 for Vene- 
zuela, we may set down the aggregate at 2,650,000. 
This is, in fact, the estimate given by a recent 
English traveller, Captain Stuart Cochrane, appa- 
rently from official documents. The population of 
the whole Republic, he says, about two years ago, was 
2,644,000 soiils. Its extent of surface, it is difficult to 
ascertain with any degree of precision. Reckoning 
from the mouth of the Orinoco to the western ex- 
tremity of the isthmus of Panama, the Republic occu- 
pies twenty-two degrees (1,320 miles) of longitude; 
while from Cape la Vela to the southern extremity of 
Quito, it extends over eighteen degrees (1,080 miles) 
of latitude ; viz. eleven degrees and a half north of 
the equator, and six and a half southward of that 
line. The total number of square leagues in the vice- 



COLOMBIA. 



7 



royalty and captain-generalship, as given by Hum- 
boldt, is under 113,000; and, taking into account 
the whole of the territory now claimed by the Repub- 
lic, including Yeragua and the Atlantic coast north- 
ward up to Cape Gracias a Dios, the geographical 
extent can hardly fall short of from 118 to 120,000 
square leagues, — a dominion equal to that of the 
Mexican Federacy. On this calculation, the propor- 
tion of inhabitants will be not quite 23 to the square 
league. Captain Cochrane states the actual extent of 
the Republic at 900,000 square miles, " being seven 
times the extent of the British Isles." It has, he 
says, 2,000 miles of coast on the Atlantic, and 1,200 
on the Pacific Ocean.* 

The following are the names of the provincial 
subdivisions, with their supposed population, in 
1810: 

NEW GRANADA. f 



Inhabitants. 

1. Veragua 30,000 

2. Panama and Porto Bello 50,000 

3. Rio Hacha 20,000 

4. Santa Marta 70,000 

5. Carthagena 210,000 

6. Antioquia 110,000 

7- Mariquita 110,000 

8. Cundinamarca (or Santa Ft) • • 190,000 

9. Neyva 45,000 

10. Pamplona 90,000 



* In Mexico, the proportion of inhabitants on the whole terri- 
tory, is 49 to the square league; in Guatimala, 46; in Peru, 33; 
in Buenos Ayres, 8 ; in all Spanish America, 28. This is Hum- 
boldt's estimate in 1800. — See Pol. Essay, vol. iv. p. 322; Pers. 
Narr. vol. iii. p. 430 ; Hall's Colombia, pp. 10, 15 ; Mollien's Tra- 
vels in Colombia, pp. 352, 431 ; Ccchrane's Travels in Colombia, 
vol. i. p. 514. 

f In Alcedo's Dictionary, the new kingdom of Granada is 
described as being eighty leagues in length and somewhat less in 



COLOMBIA. 



Inhabitants. 



11. Socorro 

12. Tunja 

13. Los Llanos (or Casanare) 

14. Popayan 

15. Choco (or Citara) 

16. Quito 

!/• Quixos y Macas 



125,000 
200,000 

20,000 
320,000 

40,000 
500,000 

40,000 



width, and as divided into five military and seven civil govern- 
ments, viz. 



5. Maracaybo 

6. Antioquia 
7- Choco 

8. Maraquita 

9. Giron 

10. Neiba (Neyva) 

11. Llanos de San Juan 

12. Yeragua 



Besides these territorial divisions, Alcedo gives the names of 
sixteen provinces ; but they are either erroneous or obsolete, and 
nothing can be made of them. These provinces are stated to be 
subdivided into 51 correg-imientos, comprising 301 settlements, in 
which are 18,359 Indians. Panama and Porto Bello, however, he 
says, belong to the kingdom of Tierra Fir me. In Bonny castle's 
Spanish America, the vice-royalty is described as consisting of 16 
provinces, viz. Jaen de Bracamoros, Quixos, Maynas, Quito, 
Tacames, Popayan, Antioquia, Santa Fe, San Juan de los Llanos, 
Merida, Santa Marta, Carthagena, Choco ; and the three provinces 
of Darien, Panama, and Veragua in Tierra Firme. In this 
enumeration, the names of eight provinces are omitted ; viz. Rio 
Hacha, Mariquita, Tunja, Neyva, Pamplona, Socorro, Cuenca, 
and Guayaquil, which are described as subordinate districts. The 
last two, and the province of Loxa, are included by this writer in 
"Quito, which formerly bore in Spain the official title of kingdom, 
though its president depended, alike in civil and military affairs, 
on the viceroy of Santa Fe. Even in Colonel Hall's enumeration 
of the provinces of the vice-royalty, Veragua and Neyva are 
omitted, Coro is inserted apparently in the place of Choco, and 
Macas is written Marnes. 



h Panama 

2. Portobello 

3. Carthagena 

4. Santa Marta 



Military 
Governments. 



COLOMBIA, 0 

Inhabitants. 

18. Cuenca 200,000 

19. Loxa y Jaen 80,000 

20. Guayaquil 50,000 

2,500,000 

VENEZUELA, 

2L Merida \ 120,000 

22. Truxillo / 

23. Caracas • • • • 460,000 

24. Varinas (or Barinas) 90,000 

25. Barcelona--. ............... | mm 

26. Cumana (New Andalusia) ■ ■ ) 

27. Margarita 15,000 

785,000 

28. Guayana 40,000 



3,325,000 

Deduct on New Granada 500,000 



on Venezuela and Guayana 175,000 

675,000 



Actual population 2,650,000 

These provinces, by the recent political arrange- 
ments, are now distributed into ten departments. 

1. Department of Orinoco. 

including (1) Province of Guayana. 

(2) , — Cumana. 

(3) Barcelona. 

(4) Margarita. 

% Department of Venezuela. 

including (1) Province of Caracas. 

(2) Varinas. 

3. Department of Zulia, or Sulia. 

including (1) Province of Coro. 

(2) Truxillo. 

(3) — -Merida. 

(4) Maracaybo. 

4. Department of Magdalena. 

including (1) Province of Carthagena. 

(2) Santa Marta. 

(3) Rio Hacha. 

B 2 



10 



COLOMBIA. 



5. * Department of Panama. 

supposed to 

include (1) Province of Panama. 

(2) Veragua. 

(3) Mosquito Coast. 

6. Department of Boyaca. 

including (i) Province of Tunja. 

(2) Socorro. 

(3) — Pamplona. 

(4) Casanare. 

7- Department of Cundinamarca. 

including (1) Province of Bogota. 

(9) Antioquia. 

(3) Mariquita. 

(4) Neyva. 

8. * Department of Cauca. 

including (1) Province of Popayan. 
(2) Choco. 

9. * Department of Quito. 

supposed to 

include (1) Province of Quito. 

(2) Guayaquil. 

(3) — : Cuenca. 

(4) — Loxa. 

10. Department of 

supposed to 

include (1) Province of Quixos. \ formerly 

(2) Macas. > united. 

(3) — Jaen. 

(4) Maynas. 

* These departments we have ventured to fill up by conjecture 
Captain Cochrane, after particularising the provinces contained in 
the other seven departments, enumerates the remaining ten as not 
yet classed in departments. From Colonel Hall's volume, how- 
ever, we learn incidentally, that the Republic is now divided into 
ten departments; but he mentions specifically only the four mari- 
time departments of Orinoco, Caracas, Zulia, and Magdalena, 
which occupy the whole extent of coast from the mouths of the 
Orinoco to the isthmus. This tract, he describes as in every 
respect the most eligible for the purposes of emigration. No 
notice is taken by any of the writers above cited of the district 
of Tologalpa, or the Mosquito coast, extending from Cape 
Gracias a Dios to the River Chagres, which has, since 1803, been 
annexed to Colombia. (See Mod. Tkav. Mcxko. vol. ii. p. 195.) 



COLOMBIA. 



11 



The ecclesiastical divisions differed materially under 
the colonial system from those of the civil and judi- 
cial administration. Santa Fe de Bogota and Caracas 
were each the seat of an archhishop, but the bishops 
of Panama, Mainas, Quito, and Cuenca, were suffra- 
gans cf the archbishop of Lima, not of the arch- 
bishop of New Granada.* Santa Fe, Caracas, and 
Quito, were each the seat of a royal audiencia.-\- 
Those courts have now ceased to exist, and the eccle- 
siastical divisions will, no doubt, be rendered con- 
formable to the political arrangements. The present 
constitution of Colombia was fixed by the congress of 
Cucuta in 1821. It proclaims the perpetual inde- 
pendence of the nation, the sovereignty of the people, 
the responsibility of magistrates, and equality of 
rights. It declares the legislative power to be vested 
in a senate and a house of representatives. The 
senate is composed of four senators for each depart- 
ment of the Republic, elected every eight years : its 
peculiar functions are those of a high court of justice 
in cases of impeachment by the house of represen- 
tatives ; its ordinary functions are the same as those 
of the latter, except that it cannot originate money- 
bills. The house of representatives consists of mem- 

We have ventured to class it in the department of Panama. The 
other two departments are filled up from what appears a natural 
arrangement, subject to correction on better information. — See 
Cochrane's Travels in Colombia, vol. i. p. 515 ; Hall's Colombia, 
p. 100. 

■ * The other bishoprics are those of Popayan, Carthagena, Santa 
Marta, Merida, Guayana, and Antioquia. Quito is now to be 
formed into an archbishopric. 

f There were twelve of these supreme courts of judicature, viz. 
those of Mexico, Guadalaxara, Guatirnala, the Havannah, Caracas, 
Bogota, Quito, Lima, Cusco, Charcas, Santiago (in Chili), and 
Buenoo Ay res. 



12 



COLOMBIA. 



bers chosen by each province, in the proportion of one 
for every 30,000 inhabitants, who are elected for 
four years. " In every parish is held what is called 
a parochial assembly, composed of proprietors to the 
value of 100 dollars, or persons exercising some 
independent trade : these parochial assemblies elect 
the electors in the rate of ten for each representative, 
so that, taking the population of the Republic at 
2,500,000, and supposing the whole representation 
graduated according to the law, the total number 
of electors will be about 700." The executive power 
is vested in the hands of a president, elected for 
four years, who is entrusted with the general admi- 
nistration of the government, the execution of the 
laws, the command of the army and navy, and 
the nomination to all civil and military employ- 
ments. There is a council of government, composed 
of the vice-president of the Republic, a member of 
the high court of justice, whom he appoints, and 
the four secretaries of state for the home, foreign, 
war, and finance departments.* Further details will 
occur in the historical sketch which we reserve for 
the sequel. We now proceed to give, chiefly on 
the authority of Baron Humboldt, a general descrip- 
tion of the 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

The great Cordillera of the Andes, which tra- 
verses the whole of South America, enters the pro- 
vince of Loxa in lat. 4° 30' S., where its height is 
moderate, and the ridge forms one body. In lat. 
2° 23' S., it spreads into a groupe of mountains, 



* Hall's Colombia, pp. 17, 18. 



COLOMBIA. 



13 



called El Assuay, some of which are nearly 15,000 
feet in height. Between the two parallel ridges 
into which it now divides, lies the elevated longi- 
tudinal valley in which are built the towns of Rio 
Bamba, Hambato, Latacungo, and the city of Quito : 
the plain is not less than 9,000 feet above the level of 
the sea, but differs essentially from the table-land 
of Mexico, inasmuch as it is strictly a valley, shut 
in by the two branches of the stupendous mountain- 
chain, whereas, north of the isthmus, it is the 
ridge itself that constitutes the plateau. To the 
right of this valley, tower the summits of Capa- 
urcu (16,380 feet), Tunguragua (16,720), Cotopaxi 
(17,950), and Guyambu (18,180): to the left, the 
still more majestic peak of Chimborazo (20,100), 
Tlenisa (16,302), and Petchincha (15,380), all covered 
with perpetual snow. Near Tulcan, the Cordil- 
lera, after having been irregularly united in one lofty 
groupe, again divides into two parallel chains, forming 
the elevated valley of Los Pastos, bordered by volcanic 
pinnacles : those of Azufsal, Gambal, and Pasto, are 
still active. Beyond Pastos, it diverges into three 
ridges, the most western of which follows the coast of 
the Pacific Ocean, and, traversing the isthmus of 
Panama at a low elevation, extends into Mexico, 
gradually increasing in height, till it there expands 
into a vast district of table-land, from 6,000 to 8,500 
feet above the sea-level. This western chain divides 
the valley of the river Cauca from the province 
of Choco and the coasts of the Pacific. Its elevation 
! is less than 5,000 feet, and between the sources of the 
Rio Atracto and those of the San Juan, it sinks 
so low, that we can scarcely trace its course into the 
isthmus. The central chain divides the valley of the 
Cauca, on the eastern side^ from that of the Blag- 



14 



COLOMBIA, 



dalena, traversing the province of Antioquia, and ter- 
minating near Mompox on the banks of the latter 
river. The whole of the province of Antioquia is 
surrounded by mountains impassable even by mules : 
the usual mode of travelling is in chairs attached 
to the backs of the Indian cargueros. The eastern 
chain, which is the most considerable and the loftiest 
of the three, divides the valley of the Magdalena from 
the plains of the Rio Meta. It is here that the num- 
berless streams originate which unite to form the 
Meta and the Apure, and to swell the waters of 
the majestic Orinoco. It forms the table-land on 
which stands Bogota, the capital of the Republic, 
at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet. After rising 
into the line of bleak mountains known as the para- 
mos* (heights) of Suma Paz, Chingota (Chingasa ?), 
Zoraca, and Chita, which enter the region of snow, it 
divides into two ridges at the paramo of Almoizadero, 
about lat. 6° 50' N. One of these ridges divides the 
waters of the Magdalena from the great lake of Mara- 
caybo, and majestically terminates in the Sierra 
Nevada (snowy mountains) of Santa Marta. The 

* Paramo, rendered desert in the dictionaries, signifies, in 
the colonies, neither a desert nor a heath, but, like the Peruvian 
word puna, denotes a mountainous place covered with stunted 
trees, exposed to the winds, and in which a damp cold perpetually 
prevails. Under the torrid zone, the paramos are generally from 
10,000 to 12,000 feet high. They are, in fact, the lower summits 
of the cordilleras. Snow often falls in them, but it remains only a 
few hours. In this respect they are distinguished from the 
nevados, which enter the limits of perpetual snow. The paramos 
are almost continually enveloped in a cold, thick fog; so that when 
a thick, small rain falls, accompanied with a depression of the 
temperature, they say at Bogota, or at Mexico, Cae toi paramito. 
Hence has been formed the provincial word emparaniarse, to be a? 
cold as if one was on a paramo. — Humboldt, Fo s. Narr. vol. ii. 
p. 252. 



COLOMBIA. 



16 



second branch, after forming the paramo of Caeota cle 
Velasco, and the elevated valley of Pamplona, takes a 
north-easterly direction at Cucuta, forming the pa- 
ramo called Mesa de Laura, and the lofty valley of La 
Grita, the valley of Bayladores, and the paramo of 
Las Porquenas, the valleys of Estanques and Merida, 
•where its summits rise into the region,, of perpetual 
snow, the cold valley and paramo of Mueachies, the 
paramos of Niquitao, Bocono, and Las Kosas, and the 
valleys of Mendosa, Bocono, Truxillo, Cavache, and 
others whose waters descend into the lake of Mara- 
caybo, which this chain of mountains encloses on the 
south and east. Separating now into two ridges, one 
branch, following a northerly direction, forms the 
Mountains of Carora, and ramifies into various small 
chains between Coro and Maracaybo. The other 
branch, running to the north-east, forms the Altai- 
mountains, and the heights of Barquesiineto and 
Nirgua, whence diverge the smaller chains which 
surround the Lake of Tacarigua, or Valencia : after 
passing Nirgua and San Felipe, it approaches the coast 
near Puerto Cabello, and continues to skirt the 
ocean to La Guayra, where it forms the elevated 
ridge called the Silla de Caracas ; it thence continues, 
sometimes approaching and sometimes receding from 
the coast, till, after forming the Brigantine chain 
near Cumana, it finally terminates in the Gulf of 
Paria.* 

From the Sierra Nevada of Merida, and the para- 
mos of Niquitao, Bocono, and Las Kosas, -j- this eastern 
branch of the Cordillera decreases in height so rapidly, 

* Hall's Colombia, pp, 2 — 9; Humboldt's Researches, vol, i. 
pp. 61, 67; Pers. Narr. vol. iii- p. 528. 
t So called from the roses that grow wild there. 



to 



COLOMBIA. 



that, between the ninth and tenth parallels of north 
latitude, it forms only a chain of small mountains or 
hills, which, stretching to the north-east, separate the 
head waters of the Apure and the Orinoco from the 
numerous rivers that fall into the Lake of Maracaybo 
or the Caribbean Sea. On this dividing ridge, which 
is metalliferous,* are built the towns of Nirgua, San 
Felipe el Fuerte, Barquesimeto, and Tocuyo. The 
first three are in a very hot climate ; and from the 
Silla de Caracas to Tocuyo, a distance of seventy 
leagues, the mountains are too low to allow of the 
growth of ericineous plants. Tocuyo enjoys a cool 
climate, and the ground rises towards the south. 
Among the rivers that descend in a north-easterly 
direction towards the coast of Puerto Cabello, the 
most remarkable are those of Tocuyo, Aroa, and 
Yaracuy. The valleys of all these rivers are extremely 
unhealthy. The chain of mountains that borders the 
Lake of Tacarigua towards the south, forms the 
northern shore of the vast basin of the llanos or 
savannas of Caracas. The mountains of Guigue and 
Tucutunemo separate the basin of the Aragua from 
those immense plains, which are a thousand feet lower 
than the valley, and present the appearance of an 
ocean of verdure. A second chain or groupe of moun- 
tains, less elevated, but of much larger extent than 
the cordillera of the northern coast, reaches from the 
mouths of the Guaviare and the Meta to the sources 
of the Orinoco, the Marony, and the Essequibo, 

* It was in this groupe of the western mountains of Venezuela, 
that the Spaniards, in the year 1551, wrought the gold mine of 
San Felipe de Buria, which led to the foundation of the town of 
Barquesimeto. But these works, like many other mines succes- 
sively opened, were soon abandoned.— Humboldt, Pers. ~Sa 
vol. iii. p. 528. The mines of Aroa, near San Felipe el Fuerte, 
still yield a small quantity of copper. 



COLOMBIA. 



1? 



towards French and Dutch Guayana, between the 
parallels of 3° and 7°- This chain, Humboldt deno- 
minates the Cordillera of Parime. " It may be fol- 
lowed," he says, " for a length of 250 leagues, hut is 
less a chain, than a collection of granitic mountains, 
separated by small plains, and not uniformly disposed 
in lines. This groupe narrows considerably between 
the sources of the Orinoco and the mountains of 
Demerara, in the sierras of Quimiropaca and Paca- 
raimo, which divide the waters of the Carony from 
those of the Parime or Rio de Aguas Blancas. This 
is the theatre of the expeditions undertaken in search 
of El Dorado and the great city of Manoa, the Tom- 
buctoo of the New Continent. The Cordillera of 
Parime is not connected with the Andes of New 
Granada, being separated from them by a space eight 
leagues broad between Bogota and Pamplona. A 
third chain of mountains between the parallels of 16° 
and 18° S., unites the Andes of Peru to the moun- 
tains of Brazil. To this chain, which is distinguished 
as the Cordillera of Chiquitos, belong the famous 
Campos dos Parecis, which divide the head-waters of 
the Amazons from those of the Paraguay. These 
three transverse chains or groupes of mountains, 
stretching from west to east, within the limits of the 
torrid zone, are separated by tracts entirely level ; the 
plains of Caracas or of the Lower Orinoco, the plains 
of the Amazons and Rio Negro, and the plains of La 
Plata.* The two basins placed at the extremities of 
South America, are savannas or steppes, pasturage 
without trees. The intermediate basin, which receives 
the equatorial rains during the whole year, is almost 

* " I do not," says the learned Traveller, " use the word valley, 
because the Lower Orinoco and the Amazons, far from flowing; 
in a valley, form but a little furrow in the midst of a vast plain*" 



18 



COLOMBIA. 



entirely one vast forest, in which no other road is 
known than the rivers. That strength of vegetation 
which conceals the soil, renders also the uniformity of 
its level less perceptible; and the plains of Caracas 
and La Plata alone bear that name. The three 
basins just described are called, in the language of 
the colonists, the Llanos of Varinas and of Caracas, 
the Bosques or Salvas (forests) of the Amazons, and 
the Pampas of Buenos Ayres. The trees not only 
cover for the most part the plains of the Amazons, 
from the Cordillera of Chiquitos as far as that of 
Parime ; they crown also these two chains of moun- 
tains, which rarely attain the height of the Pyrenees, 
except the westernmost part of the chain of Chiquitos 
between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 
where the summits are covered with snow.* On this 
account, the vast plains of the Amazons, the Madera, 
and the Rio Negro, are not so distinctly bounded as 
the Llanos of Caracas and the Pampas of Buenos 
Ayres. As the region of forests comprises at once 
the plains and the mountains, it extends from lat. 18° 
S.-f to 7° and 8° N., and occupies an area of nearly 
120,000 square leagues. This forest of South America 
(for, in fact, there is only one) is six times larger 
than France. It is known to Europeans only on the 
shores of some rivers by which it is traversed ; and 
has its openings, the extent of which is in proportion 
to that of the forest." Among these, the learned Tra- 

* This colossal groupe, however, the writer remarks, may 
rather be considered as belonging to the Andes of La Paz, of which 
it forms a promontory or spur in an eastern direction. 

t " To the west, in consequence of the IJanos of Manso and 
the Pamjxis of Huanacos, the forests do not extend generally be- 
yond the parallels of 18° or 19° S. ; but, towards the east, in Brazil, 
as well as in Paraguay, they advance as far as 25° S. 



COLOMBIA, 



19 



veller specifies the marshy savannas between the 
Upper Orinoco, the Conorichite, and the Cassiquiare, 
in the parallels of 3° and 4° S., and those, in the 
same parallel, between the sources of the Mao and 
the Rio de Aguas Blancas, south of the Sierra de 
Pacaraimo, near the frontiers of Dutch and French 
Guayana. 

The " enormous wall of mountains" which borders 
the western coast, at an average distance of about 150 
miles, is rich in the precious metals, " wherever the vol- 
canic fire has not pierced through the eternal snows." 
Summits of trappish porphyry here attain the elevation 
of more than 20,000 feet above the sea-level ; and the 
mean height of the Andes in Colombia and Peru, is 
1850 toises or fathoms (above 11,000 feet). Their 
greatest altitude is nearly under the equator. Of the 
i three transverse chains, none of the summits enter the 
limit of perpetual snow, and they have no active vol- 
canoes. The mean height of the Cordillera of Parime, 
and of the littoral chain of Caracas, is not above 
3,500 feet, although some summits rise upwards of 
8,000 feet above the level of the sea. The highest is 
the Silla de Caracas^ which attains the height of 
8,400 feet, and forms an enormous and frightful pre- 
cipice fronting the Caribbean Sea. The Sierra N evada 
of Santa Marta rises to the elevation of 16,000 feet, 
and the Nevado of Merida to that of 15,000 feet ; but 
Humboldt does not consider the nevados and paramos 
of Merida and Truxillo as belonging to the chain of 
Caracas, which begins only to the east of long. 71° : 
they are rather a prolongation of the Andes of New 
Granada. 

The Llanos which form the basin of the Orinoco, 
communicate with that of the Amazons and the Rio 
Negro, by the opening already mentioned, between 



i 



20 



COLOMBIA. 



the mountains of Parime and the Andes. This chan- 
nel, or (as Humboldt terms it) land-strait, is the plain 
of the Rio Vichada and the Meta. The basin of the 
Amazons is, however, five times higher than the 
Llanos of Caracas and the Meta, or than the Pampas 
of Buenos Ayres ; and between the parallels of 4° and 
7°, where the Orinoco, which flows in a westerly 
direction from its source to the mouth of the Guaviare, 
forces its way through the rocks on the edge of the 
Cordillera of Parime, and takes a course from south 
to north, all the great cataracts are situated. \Then 
the river has reached the mouth of the Apure, in that 
weary low ground where the slope towards the north 
is met by the counter-slope towards the south-east, it 
bends again, and flows eastward. The area of these 
Llanos, calculated from the Caqueta to the Apure, 
and from the Apure to the Delta of the Orinoco, is 
17,000 square leagues of twenty to a degree. The 
part running from N. to S. is almost double that 
which stretches from E. to W, between the Lower 
Orinoco and the Cordillera of the coast,* and which 
is four times narrower than the great desert of Africa. 
Like the latter, the Llanos bear different names in 
different parts. Those of Cumana, of Barcelona, and 
of Venezuela, include the following subdivisions : in 
Cumana, the Llanos of Maturin, Terecen, Amana, 
Guanipa, Jonoro, and Cari ; in Barcelona, those of 
Aragua, Pariaguan, and Villa del Pao ; in Caracas, 
those of Chaguaramas, Uritucu, Calabozo or Guarico, 

* The Pampas on the N. and N.W. cf Buenos Ayres, lying be- 
tween thai city and Cordova, Jujuy, and the Tucuman, are of nearly 
the same extent as the Llanos of Caracas ; but S. of Buenos Ayres, 
they stretch to the length of eighteen degrees, and their extent is 
so vast, that palm-trees flourish at one extremity, while the other, 
equally low and level, is covered with perpetual frost. See Mod, 
Trav., Brazil, vol. ii. pp. 303, 336. 



COLOMBIA. 



21 



La Portuguesa, San Carlos, and Araure. Where 
the steppes run toward the S. and S.S.W., from the 
latitude of 8°, between the meridians of 70° and 73°, 
we find, from north to south, the Llanos of Varinas, 
Casanare, the Meta, Guaviare, Caguan, and Caqueta. 
These also are subdivided into the Llanos of Guanare, 
Bocono, the Apure, Palmerito (near Quintero), Guar- 
dalito, and Arauca ; the Meta, Apiay (near the port 
of Pachaquiaro), Vichada, Guaviare, Arriari, Inirida, 
Rio Hacha, and Caguan. The plains of Varinas pre- 
sent some feeble monuments of a nation chat has dis- 
appeared, in the Serillos de los Indios^ conical hillocks 
formed by the hands of men, and probably containing 
bones, which are found between Mijagual and the 
Cano de la Hacha. A fine road also is discovered 
near Hato de la Calzada, between Varinas and Cana- 
gua, five leagues in length, the work of the aborigines 
in remote times prior to the conquest. It is a cause- 
way of earth, fifteen feet high, crossing a plain subject 
to inundation. 

The Llanos and the Pampas are now filled with 
immense herds of cattle and horses ; but, when Co- 
lumbus arrived here, the horse and the cow had never 
been seen in the New World, and the pastoral life 
had no existence there. M. Humboldt indulges 
himself in speculating on the very different state in 
which the human race would have been found, had 
those animals been previously distributed over this 
portion of the globe. Nomade hordes, subsisting on 
milk and cheese, would have spread themselves over 
these vast regions, and, at the period of great droughts 
or inundations, would have fought for the possession 
of pastures. United by the common tie of manners, 
language, and worship, these nations would have 
risen to that state of semi -civilisation which is exhi- 



22 



COLOMBIA. 



bited by the pastoral nations of the Mongul and Tartar 
race. " America might then," he adds, " like the 
centre of Asia, have had its conquerors, who, ascend- 
ing from the plains to the table-lands of the Cordil- 
leras, would have subdued the civilised nations of 
Peru and New Granada, overturned the throne of the 
Incas and that of the Zaque of Cundinamarca, and 
substituted for a theocratic despotism, that despotism 
which results from the patriarchal government of a 
pastoral people. In the New World, the human race 
has not experienced these great moral and political 
changes, because the steppes, though more fertile than 
those of Asia, have remained without herds ; because 
none of the animals that furnish milk in abundance, 
are natives of the plains of South America : and be- 
cause, in the progressive development of American 
civilisation, the intermediate link is wanting, that 
connects the hunting with the agricultural nations."* 
This general view of the physical aspect and pro- 
vincial divisions of the territory, will serve as a suffi- 
cient introduction to the topographical details. Our 
business will now be, to follow the routes of the few 
travellers who have penetrated the equinoctial regions 
of America ; and in pursuing this plan, we shall con. 
sider ourselves at liberty to take little further notice 
of the territorial boundaries, but shall adhere, for 
convenience' sake, to the grand twofold division of 
the country into the eastern and western portions so 
long distinguished by the names of New Granada and 
Venezuela or Caracas. We shall begin where Hum- 
boldt commences his personal narrative, and where 
Columbus first set his foot on the New Continent, — 
the north-eastern coast of Caracas. 

* Pers. Narr. vol, iv. pp. 304—310 : vol. iii. pp. 527—0. 



I 



COLOMBIA, 



23 



VENEZUELA OR CARACAS. 

The period at which Baron Humboldt and his 
friend M. Bonpland commenced their travels in the 
New Continent, was the last year of the eighteenth 
century. Since then, these regions have been the 
theatre of one of the most sanguinary struggles that, 
perhaps, ever occurred in any political revolution, by 
which whole districts have been almost depopulated. 
u In the time of its greatest prosperity," remarks 
Col. Hall, u the country was comparatively a desert ; 
but this desolation has been fearfully augmented 
during the revolutionary war." Internal dissensions, 
as Humboldt justly remarks, are the more to be 
dreaded in regions where civilisation is but slightly 
rooted, and where, from the influence of climate, the 
forests may soon regain their empire over cleared 
lands, if their culture be suspended. The account 
furnished by this learned Traveller, therefore, must 
be considered as portraying the state of the colony at 
the beginning of the nineteenth century. The same 
remark applies to the Travels of M. Dupons, formerly 
agent to the French Government at Caracas, where 
he resided during the years 1801, 2, 3, and 4. The 
Statistical Description of Venezuela drawn up by 
M. Lavaysse, a French colonist of Trinidad, comes 
down no later than 1807* Mr. Semple, an intelligent 
English traveller, has given a brief account of the 
state of Caracas in 1810. Since then, the only pub- 
lished travels that have reached us, descriptive of this 
country, are those of Captain Charles Stuart Cochrane, 
of the Royal Navy, who visited both Caracas and 
Bogota during the years 1823 and 4 ; but his work 
relates chiefly to the western portion of Colombia, 



■24 



COLOMBIA. 



and he saw little of Venezuela. We shall therefore 
have to follow chiefly in the track of MM. Humboldt 
and Bonpland ; and as their account dates prior to 
the Revolution, we have purposely reserved our his- 
torical sketch of the late events for the conclusion of 
the volume, as a more appropriate sequel than intro- 
duction. 

CUMANA. 

It was on the 16th of July, 1/99, that the Travel- 
lers anchored opposite the mouth of the river Man- 
zanares, on the banks of which the city of Cumana is 
built. " Our eyes were fixed," says the Writer, 44 on 
the groupes of cocoa-trees that border the river, and 
the trunks of which, more than sixty feet high, 
towered over the landscape. The plain was covered 
with tufts of cassias, capers, and those arborescent 
mimosas which, like the pine of Italy, extend their 
branches in the form of an umbrella. The pinnated 
leaves of palms were conspicuous on the azure of a 
sky, the clearness of which was unsullied by any trace 
of vapours. The sun w T as ascending rapidly towards 
the zenith. A dazzling light was spread through the 
air, along the whitish hills, strewed with cylindric 
cactuses, and over a sea ever calm, the shores of which 
were peopled with alcatras,* egrets, and flamingoes. 
The splendour of the day, the vivid colouring of the 
vegetation, the forms of the plants, the variea plumage 
of the birds, every thing announced the grand aspect 
of nature in the equinoctial regions." -f 

A vast plain, or salt marsh, called El Salado, con- 
sisting of whitish sand partially covered with low 

* A species of brown pelican of the size of a swaii. 
f Pers. Nar. vol. ii. p. 183. 



COLOMBIA. 



25 



shrubs,* divides the suburb of the Guayqueria In- 
dians from the sea-coast. The city of Cumana, the 
capital of the old government of New Andalusia, is a 
mile distant from the embarcadere, or battery of the 
Bocca, which is the landing-place. It stands at the 
foot of a volcanic mountain, part of a groupe stretch- 
ing east and west from the summit of Imposibile to 
Port Mochima, which appears to have formed at some 
remote period an island in the Gulf of Cariaco. There 
is no doubt, Humboldt thinks, that that gulf has 
been produced by an irruption of the sea, and the 
whole of the sandy plain on which the city is built, 
was at one time submerged by the waters. -j- The river 
Manzanares encompasses the city on the south and 
west, separating it, on the south, from the suburbs of 
the Guayquerias. This city, the most ancient of all 
in Tierra Firme, was built by Gonzalo Ocampo. in 
1520. X It was at first called New Toledo. " Fifty 
years ago, it was only a miserable village, that received 

* Mangle prieto (avicenna tomentosa), sesuvium, yellow gom- 
phrena, and cactus, — shrubs found only on the sea-shore, and on 
the elevated plains of the Andes within the torrid zone. 

t That the gulf owes its existence to a rent of the continent, is 
stated to be a generally received opinion among the inhabitants ; 
and it is related, that at the time of the third voyage of Christo- 
pher Columbus, the natives mentioned it as a very recent event. 
«« In 1530, the inhabitants were alarmed by new shocks on the 
coasts of Paria and Cumana. The lands were inundated by the 
sea, and the small fort built by James Castellon, was entirely de- 
stroyed. At the same time, an enormous opening was formed in 
the mountains of Cariaco, on the shores of the Gulf, when a great 
body of water, mixed with asphaltum, issued from the micaceous 
schist." — Humboldt, vol. ii. p. 215. 

$ Ocampo's settlement was destroyed by the Indians, and the 
real founder of the colony, M. Lavaysse contends, was Governor 
Diego Castellon, who was sent out by the audiencia of San Do- 
mingo, in 1523, after the extermination of the colonists left by the 
admirable Las Casas a few years before. 
PART I. C 



26 



COLOMBIA. 



annually two or three small vessels from Spain, which 
divided the trade of the country with the Dutch and 
English smugglers. When the edict of Charles III., 
dated Nov. 12, 1773, vulgarly called the free- trade 
law, which put an end to the monopoly of the Grui- 
puscoa Company, revived the languishing agriculture 
and commerce, the population of this province more 
than doubled in twenty years, and the riches of the 
country augmented in a progression still more consider- 
able. This province, its capital, and the other towns, 
are honourable monuments," continues M. Lavaysse, 
" of the prodigious influence of an enlightened, pru- 
dent, and disinterested governor on the prosperity of 
a colony. During nearly eleven years (from 1793 to 
1804) that Don Vicente de Emparan was governor 
of the colony, the liberal protection which he granted 
to agriculture and commerce, had augmented, in 1805, 
the colonial produce to double what it was in 1799 : 
every class of society was in good circumstances, and 
many persons had acquired considerable fortunes. The 
town had increased to triple its former size ; houses ele- 
gantly built, with Italian roofs, had replaced hovels and 
huts; and a new quarter or suburb, that rivals the 
ancient town, took the venerated name of Emparan."* 
The number of inhabitants of every age and colour, 
in 1802, is stated by M. Dupons at 24,000, of whom 
a large proportion were white Creoles. When M. La- 
vaysse was there in 1807, it amounted to upwards of 
28,000 ; and at the end of 1810, he says, it had risen 
to 30,000, " almost all industrious and laborious." 
M. Humboldt, however, considers this as an exagge- 
rated calculation. In 1800, the local government esti- 
mated the population at less than 12,000; and in 1802, 



* Statistical Account, &c. p. 94. 



COLOMBIA. 



27 



it could scarcely, he maintains, have exceeded 19,000. 
The births in 1798, were only 522; in the equinoctial 
regions of Mexico they are as 17 to 100; whereas, if 
the population in 1800 had been 26,000, the births 
would have been but as 1 to 43. M. Dupons states 
the total population of the provinces of Cumana and 
Barcelona at 80,000 souls. 44 The statements I read 
on the spot," says M. Lavaysse, in 1807, " declared 
this population to be 96,000 persons." The estimate 
cited by Col. Hall, rates the population of Cumana 
. (including Barcelona) at 100,000 souls. 

The town of Cumana contains two parish churches , 
(one of which was erected in 1803,) two convents, 
Franciscan and Dominican, and a theatre, constructed 
on the same plan as that of Caracas, but much smaller. 
Bull -baiting, cock-fighting, and rope-dancing are, 
however, the favourite amusements. 44 Four years 
ago," says M. Lavaysse, 44 there was no town-clock 
in Cumana. While M. Humboldt was in this town 
in 1800, he constructed a very fine sun-dial there. 
When a stranger passes by this dial, in company with 
a Cumanese, the latter never fails to say : 4 We owe 
this sun-dial to the learned (sabio) Baron de Hum- 
boldt.' I remarked that they never pronounced the 
name of this illustrious traveller, without adding that 
epithet to it, and they speak of him with a mingled 
sentiment of admiration and regard. This town has 
no public establishment for the education of youth ; it 
is, therefore, astonishing to find any knowledge among 
its inhabitants ; yet, there is some information disse- 
minated among many of the Creoles of Cumana. They 
are but seldom sent to Europe for their education : 
the most wealthy receive it at Caracas, and the 
greater number under schoolmasters, from whom they 
learn the Spanish grammar, arithmetic, the first ele. 



28 



COLOMBIA. 



merits of geometry, drawing, a little Latin, and music. 
I have remarked considerable talent, application, and 
good conduct in their youth, and less vivacity and 
vanity than among those of Caracas. Not being so 
rich as the latter, the Cumanese are brought up with 
principles of economy and industry ; there are no 
idlers among them ; in general, they are inclined to 
business. Some apply themselves to the mechanical 
arts others, to commerce. They have also a great 
partiality for navigation and trading with the neigh- 
bouring colonies of other nations ; and by their acti- 
vity and prudence, they make considerable profits with 
small capitals. Their articles of exportation are cattle, 
smoked meat (tassajo), and salted fish, which commo- 
dities they have in great abundance. Two pounds of 
beef are sold at Cumana for twopence halfpenny, and 
twenty-two pounds of salt meat at from 35. 4c?. to 
4s. 2d. Fish is never weighed there: some days, 
there is such a quantity caught by the fishermen, that 
they give ten, twelve, or fifteen pounds' weight for 5d» 
The poor go to the sea-side with maize, cakes, and 
eggs, and barter them for fish. Eggs are the small 
change in Cumana, Caracas, and other provinces of 
Venezuela, where copper coin is unknown, the smallest 
piece in circulation being a medio-real in silver, worth 
2^d. If one goes into a shop to buy something worth 
less than 2-|c?., they give as change two or three eggs ; 
for a dozen of eggs there are worth only a medio-reaJ. 
This is also the price of a measure of excellent milk, 
about a quart. A sheep is sold for a dollar, a fine turkey 
for 20c?. or 2s., a fowl for 5c?., a fat capon 7\d. to 10<r/., 
a duck the same price. Game and wild fowl are fre- 
quently sold cheaper than butcher's meat ; and all 
those articles are still cheaper in the small towns of 
the interior. I lived at the best and dearest hotel in 



COLOMBIA. 



29 



Cumana, at a dollar per day, including the expenses 
of my son and servant. They gave us for breakfast, 
cold meats, fish, chocolate, coffee, tea, and Spanish 
wine ; an excellent dinner, with Spanish and French 
wines, coffee, and liqueurs ; in the evening, chocolate. 
I was well lodged and lighted. I should have 
expended but half that sum if I had gone to board 
and lodge in a family. In short, there is not a 
country in the Avorld where one may live cheaper 
than in the province of Cumana. An excellent dinner 
may be had there for 10^., not including wine, which 
does not cost more than hd, per bottle to those who 
buy a quantity of it. Poor people drink punch, which 
is at a very low rate, for it does not cost above Id. per 
quart. 

u The inhabitants of Cumana are very polite ; it 
may even be said that they are excessively so. There 
is not so much luxury among them as at Caracas ; 
their houses, however, are tolerably well furnished. 
They are very abstemious. Those dinners and festi- 
vals which form one of the charms of society in 
Europe, and which, in the British and French 
colonies, are repeated almost every day from the first 
of January to the last of December, are unknown to 
the inhabitants of Cumana and the other provinces of 
Venezuela. 

" The retail trade of Cumana is almost entirely in 
the hands of the Catalans, Biscayans, and Canarians. 
These men are chiefly sailors, who have begun to 
open shop with a few dollars, and who, in a few years, 
acquire fortunes by their frugality and industry. If a 
man of that country lands without a farthing, the 
first Catalan he meets takes him to his house, gives 
him work, or recommends him to some of his country- 
men. There are many countries in which one brother 
€ 2 



oil 



COLOMBIA. 



would not do for another that which a Catalan is 
always inclined to do for his countrymen. It was the 
Catalans who taught the inhabitants to derive advan- 
tage from various local productions : for instance, 
from cocoa-nuts they make oil, an emulsion which is 
substituted for that of almonds, and very good orgeat. 
They make excellent cables of the bark of the mahet 
(bombaoe), and twine and cords of the aloe {agave 
fcetida)." * 

The mode of catching ducks and other aquatic birds 
practised by the Indians of Cariaco, is not a little 
amusing to the stranger, though not peculiar to this 
part of the New World. The natives leave calabashes 
continually floating on the water, that the birds may 
be accustomed to the sight of them. " When they 
wish to catch any of these wild fowl, they go into the 
water with their heads covered each with a calabash, 
in which they make two holes -for seeing through. 
They thus swim towards the birds, throwing a 
handful of maize on the water from time to time, 
of which the grains scatter on the surface. The birds 
approach to feed on the maize, and at that moment 
the swimmer seizes them by the feet, pulls them 
under water, and wrings their necks before they 
can make the least movement, or, by their noise, 
spread an alarm among the nock. The swimmer 
attaches those he has taken to his girdle, and he 
generally takes as many as are necessary for his 
family. Many have no other trade in the neighbour- 
hood of some large towns, and daily take multitudes 
of these birds, which they sell at a low rate, though 
they are very good food."-f- 

All the houses of Cumana are low and slightly 



* Lavaysscj pp. 104 — K'o. 



t Ibid. p. 112. 



COLOMBIA. 



31 



built, the frequent earthquakes to which the town 
is subject, compelling the inhabitants to sacrifice 
architectural beauty to personal security. The violent 
shocks felt in December 1797, threw down almost all 
the edifices of stone, and rendered uninhabitable 
those which were left standing. No steeple or dome 
attracts from afar the eye of the traveller, but only a 
few trunks of tamarind, cocoa, and date- trees, rise 
above the flat roofs of the houses. Earthquakes were 
very frequent during the sixteenth century ; and, 
according to the traditions preserved at Cumana,* the 
sea often inundated the shores, rising from fifteen 
to twenty fathoms. The inhabitants fled to the Cerro 
de San Antonio, and to the hill on which the small 
Franciscan convent now stands ; and 66 it is even 
thought," Humboldt adds, " that these frequent 
inundations induced the inhabitants to build that 
quarter of the town which is backed by the moun- 
tain, and stands on a part of its declivity." The 
elevation of the present town above the sea-level 
is only fifty -three feet.-|- The year 1768 was a fatal 
one to the colonists. A drought had prevailed for 
fifteen months, when, on the 21st of October in 
that year, the whole of the houses were overthrown in 
the space of a few minutes by horizontal oscillations of 
the earth, and the shocks were hourly repeated during 
fourteen months. The remembrance of that day was 
still perpetuated, at the beginning of the present cen- 
tury, by a solemn religious procession. " In several 
parts of the province, the earth opened and threw out 

* No records exist at Cumana, owing to the continual devasta- 
tions of the termites, or white ants, which go further back than a 
hundred and fifty years. 

t Lavayssc, p. 103. 



32 



COLOMBIA 



sulphureous waters. These irruptions were very fre- 
quent in a plain extending towards Casanay, two 
leagues to the east of the town of Cariaco, known 
by the name of the tier r a hueca (hollow ground), 
because it appears entirely undermined by thermal 
springs. During the years 1766 and 7? the inhabit- 
ants of Cumana encamped in the streets, and they 
began to rebuild their houses when the earthquakes 
took place only once a month! What occurred at 
Quito, immediately after the great catastrophe of 
the 4th of February, 1797, took place on these coasts. 
While the ground was in a state of continual oscilla- 
tion, the atmosphere seemed to dissolve into water. 
The rivers were swollen by these sudden torrents 
of rain ; the year was extremely fertile ; and the 
Indians, whose frail huts easily resist the strongest- 
shocks, celebrated, from ideas of old superstition, 
with feasting and dances, the destruction of the 
world and the approaching epoch of its regenera- 
tion." * 

Another remarkable earthquake took place in 1704, 
characterised by the same horizontal oscillations. But 
the fatal one of December 1797 5 was attended, for the 
first time at Cumana, by a vertical motion, or raising 
up of the ground. More than four-fifths of the city 
were then entirely destroyed. The shock was attended 
by a very loud subterraneous noise, resembling the 
explosion of a mine at a great depth. Happily, it was 
preceded by a slight undulating motion, which gave 
warning to the inhabitants to escape into the streets, 
and a small number only perished of those who had 
assembled in the churches. Half an hour before the 
catastrophe, also, a strong smell of sulphur M as 



* Humboldt, vol. ii. p. 217- 



COLOMBIA. 



33 



perceived near the hill of the Franciscan convent ; 
and at this spot, the subterraneous noise, which 
seemed to proceed from S.E. to N.W., was heard the 
loudest. At the same time, flames issued from the 
earth on the banks of the Manzanares, near the 
hospitio of the Capuchins, and in the Gulf of Cariaco, 
near Mariguitar. This last phenomenon, Humboldt 
states, is of frequent occurrence in the calcareous 
mountains near Cumanacoa, in the valley of Bor- 
dones, the island of Margarita, and the mesas (flats) 
of Cari and Guanipa in the Llanos of Cumana.* 
" In these savannas, flakes of fire rise to a con- 
siderable height ; they are seen for hours together in 
the driest places ; and it is asserted, that, on examin- 
ing the ground which furnishes the inflammable 
matter, no crevice is to be found. This fire, which 
resembles the Will-o'-the-wisp of our marshes, does 
not burn the grass ; because, no doubt, the column 
of gas which developes itself, is mixed with azote and 
carbonic acid, and does not burn at its basis. The 
people, although less superstitious here than in Spain, 
call these reddish flames by the singular name of 
the soul of the tyrant, imagining that the spectre 
of Lopez Aguirre, harassed by remorse, wanders over 
these countries sullied by his crimes. "-j- During his 

* "At about a league and a half from the town of Cariaco, 
near the road to Carupano, is a lake, or rather marsh, of about 
half a league in length by nearly the same breadth, which is the 
resort of innumerable reptiles, toads, serpents, and crocodiles ; it is 
there, also, according to the assertions of the inhabitants, that the 
tiger-cats go to quench their thirst. It was at ten o'clock at night 
that I first passed near this marsh ; it exhaled a hydrogen-sul- 
phurous odour extremely nauseous, and phosphoric fires appeared 
on its surface. I collected petroleum on the brink of this marsh." 
— Lavaysse, p. 113. 

t When, at Cumana, or in the island of Margarita, the people 
speak of El Tiranno (the tyrant), it is always to denote the infamous 



34 



COLOMBIA, 



residence in Peru, M. Humboldt observed that, at the 
end of violent earthquakes, the herbs that cover the 
savannas of Tucuman acquired noxious properties ; 
an epidemic disease took place among the cattle, and 
a great number of them appeared stupified or suffo- 
cated by the deleterious vapours exhaled from the 
ground. Prior to an earthquake, dogs, goats, and 
swine, are observed to give warning of the approach- 
ing danger by their restlessness and their cries, which 
may very possibly, as he suggests, be occasioned 
by some gaseous emanation from the earth which 
they perceive. Very slight oscillations, also, and a 
hollow sound which does not escape the practised ear 
of a resident, generally precede a violent shock: the 
cry of " misericordia, tembla^ tembla" is then raised, 
and a false alarm is very rarely given by a native. 
The old and commonly received opinion, that there 
exists a perceptible connexion between earthquakes 
and the previous state of the atmosphere, M. Hum- 
boldt considers as unfounded. Violent shocks have 
been found to take place equally in dry and in 
wet weather, when the coolest winds blow, or during 
a dead and suffocating calm. " From the great 
number of earthquakes," he says, " which I have 
witnessed, both north and south of the equator, on 
the continent, and in the basin of the seas, on the 
coasts and at 2,500 toises height, it appears to me 

Lopez d'Aguirre, who, after having taken part, in 1560, in 
the revolt of Ferdinando de Guzman, against Pedro de Orsua, 
commander of an expedition in search of El Dorado, and mur- 
dered Guzman himself, seized and devastated the island of Mar- 
garita, where the port of Paraguache still bears the name of the 
Tyrant's Port. Mr. Southey has done his best to give interest 
to the frightful and disgusting story of this insane desperado's 
brief but atrocious career, in his " Expedition of Orsua." — fcap. 
8vo. Lond. 1821. 



COLOMBIA. 



35 



that the oscillations are generally very independent of 
the previous state of the atmosphere." * Nor does it 
appear that the depression of the barometer is by any 
means a constant presage or effect of these stupendous 
phenomena. u We can scarcely doubt," remarks the 
same learned Writer, " that the earth, when opened 
and agitated by shocks, spreads occasionally gaseous 
emanations through the atmosphere, in places remote 
from the mouths of volcanoes not extinct. At 
Cumana, as already mentioned, flames and vapours 
mixed with sulphurous acid, spring up from the most 
arid soil. In other parts of the same province, 
the earth ejects water and petroleum. At Riobamba, 
a muddy and inflammable mass, called moya, issues 
from crevices that close again, and accumulates into 
elevated hills. At seven leagues from Lisbon, near 
Colares, during the terrible earthquake of Nov. 1, 
1755, flames and a column of thick smoke were seen 
to issue from the flanks of the rocks of Alvidras, and, 
according to some witnesses, from the bosom of the 
sea. This smoke lasted several days, and it was the 
more abundant in proportion as the subterraneous 
noise which accompanied the shocks was louder. 
Elastic fluids thrown into the atmosphere, may act 
locally on the barometer, not by their mass, which is 
very small compared to the mass of the atmosphere, 
but because, at the moment of the great explosions, 
an ascending current is probably formed, which 
diminishes the pressure of the air. I am inclined 

* It was observed, that previously to the earthquake which 
destroyed Aleppo in 1822, there was nothing remarkable in the 
weather or state of the atmosphere; and M. Volney's remark, that 
the earthquakes of Syria are almost wholly confined to the winter 
season after the autumnal rains, was shewn to be an erroneous 
assumption. — See Mod. Trav. Syria, vol. i- p« 29. 



36 



COLOMBIA. 



to think, that, in the greater number of earthquakes, 
nothing escapes from the agitated earth ; and that, 
where gaseous emanations and vapours take place, 
they oftener accompany, or follow, than precede the 
shocks. This last circumstance explains a fact which 
seems indubitable ; I mean that mysterious influence, 
in equinoctial America, of earthquakes on the climate, 
and on the order of the dry and rainy seasons. If the 
earth generally acts on the air only at the moment 
of the shocks, we can conceive why it is so rare, that 
a sensible meteorological change becomes the presage 
of these great revolutions of nature. 

" The hypothesis according to which, in the earth- 
quakes of Cumana, elastic fluids tend to escape from 
the surface of the soil, seems confirmed by the observa- 
tion of the dreadful noise which is heard during the 
shocks at the borders of the wells in the plain of 
Char as. Water and sand are sometimes th:\?wn out 
twenty feet high. Similar phenomena have not 
escaped the observation of the ancients, who inhabited 
parts of Greece and Asia Minor abounding with 
caverns, crevices, and subterraneous rivers. Nature, 
in its uniform progress, every where suggests the same 
ideas of the causes of earthquakes, and the means 
by which man, forgetting the measure of his strength, 
pretends to diminish the effect of the subterraneous 
explosions. What a great Roman naturalist (Pliny) 
has said of the utility of wells and caverns, is repeated 
in the New World by the most ignorant Indians of 
Quito, when they shew travellers the guaieos or 
crevices of Pichincha. 

u The subterraneous noise, so frequent during 
earthquakes, is generally not in the ratio of the 
strength of the shocks. At Cumana, it constantly 
precedes them, while at Quito, and. for a short time 



COLOMBIA. 37 

past, at Caracas, and in the West India Islands, a 
noise like the discharge of a battery was heard a long 
time after the shocks had ceased. A third kind of 
phenomenon, the most remarkable of the whole, is the 
rolling of those subterraneous thunders which last 
several months, without being accompanied by the 
least oscillating motion of the ground." 

Naturalists had supposed, that certain species of 
' rocks are alone fitted to propagate the shocks ; but 
M. Humboldt has shewn this opinion to be erroneous, 
j by referring to the granites of Lima and Acapulco, 
the gneiss of Caracas, the mica-slate of the peninsula 
( of Araya, the trappean porphyries of Quito and 
Popayan, and the secondary limestones of Spain and 
. New Andalusia, as sharing equally in the convulsive 
movements of the globe. Yet, it appears that, in 
some instances, the superior strata have been found 
capable of resisting for a time the influence of the 
commotion. Thus, in the mines of Saxony, work- 
men have been known to hasten up, affrighted by 
oscillations which were not felt at the surface of 
the ground. At Cumana, before the great catas- 
trophe of 1797, the earthquakes were felt only along 
the southern coast of the Gulf of Cariaco, which is a 
calcareous formation, as far as the town of that name ; 
while the inhabitants of the peninsula of Araya, 
which is composed -of mica-slate, found themselves 
in security. Since then, however, new communica- 
tions appear to have been opened in the interior 
of the earth, and the promontory of Araya has 
become in its turn a particular centre of the shocks. 
The earth is sometimes strongly shaken at the village 
of Maniquarez, when, on the coast of Cumana, the 
inhabitants enjoy an undisturbed tranquillity. 

The earthquakes of Cumana are connected with 

PART I. 33 



38 



COLOMBIA. 



those of the West India Islands ; " and it has even 
been suspected," Humboldt says, " that they have 
some connexion with the volcanic phenomena of the 
Andes." The eruption of the volcano of Guadaloupe, 
on September 27, 1797 ? was followed, on the 4th of 
November, 1797? by a destructive earthquake in 
Quito, in which nearly 40,000 natives perished, and, 
on the 14th of December, by the great earthquake of 
Cumana. During eight months, the inhabitants of 
the eastern Antilles were alarmed by shocks. On 
the 30th of April, 1812, the volcano of St. Vincent's, 
which had not emitted flames since 1718, broke forth 
anew, and the eruption was preceded by repeated 
earthquakes during eleven months. The total ruin 
of the city of Caracas occurred on the 26th of March 
preceding, and violent oscillations were felt both 
on the coasts and in the islands. " Several facts," 
continues the learned Writer, " tend to prove, that 
the causes which produce earthquakes have a near 
connexion with those that act in volcanic eruptions. 
We learned at Pasto, that the column of black 
and thick smoke which, in 1797, issued for several 
months from the volcano near this shore, disappeared 
at the very hour when, sixty leagues- to the south, the 
towns of Biobamba, Hambato, and Tacunga were 
overturned by an enormous shock. When, in the 
interior of a burning crater, we are seated near those 
hillocks formed by ejections of scoriae and ashes, we 
feel the motion of the ground several seconds before 
each partial eruption takes place. We observed this 
phenomenon at Vesuvius in 1805, while the mountain 
threw out scoriae at a white heat ; we were witnesses 
of it in 1802, on the brink of the immense crater of 
Pichincha, from which, nevertheless, at that time, 
clouds of sulphureous acid vapours only issued. 



COLOMBIA. 



39 



" Every thing in earthquakes seems to indicate 
the action of elastic fluids seeking an outlet to spread 
themselves in the atmosphere. Often, on the coasts 
of the South Sea, the action is almost instantaneously 
communicated from Chili to the Gulf of Guayaquil, a 
distance of six hundred leagues ; and, what is very 
remarkable, the shocks appear to be so much the 
stronger, as the country is more distant from burning 
volcanoes. The granitic mountains of Calabria, 
covered with very recent breccia, the calcareous chain 
of the Apennines, the country of Pignerol, the coasts 
of Portugal and Greece, those of Peru and Terra 
Firma, afford striking proofs of this assertion. The 
globe, it may be said, is agitated with greater force, in 
proportion as the surface has a smaller number of 
funnels communicating with the caverns of the in- 
terior. At Naples and at Messina, at the foot of 
Cotopaxi and of Tunguragua, earthquakes are dreaded 
only when vapours and flames do not issue from the 
crater. In the kingdom of Quito, the great catas- 
trophe of Riobamba, which we have before mentioned, 
has led several well-informed persons to think, that 
this unfortunate country would be less often desolated, 
if the subterraneous fire should break the porphyritic 
dome of Chimborazo, and if this colossal mountain 
should become a burning volcano. At all times analo- 
gous facts have led to the same hypothesis. The 
Greeks, who, like ourselves, attributed the oscillations 
of the ground to the tension of elastic fluids, cited in 
favour of their opinion the total cessation of the 
shocks at the island of Euboea, by the opening of 
a crevice in the Lelantine plain.' * 

In Cumana, as well as in Chili and Peru, the 
shocks follow the course of the shore, and extend but 
little inland. This cannot arise merely from the 



40 



COLOMBIA. 



lowness of the ground on the coast, as the Llanos by 
no means participate in the agitation, although they 
are scarcely fifty or sixty feet above the level of 
the sea. M. Humboldt considers the circumstance 
as indicating the intimate connexion between the 
causes that produce earthquakes and volcanic erup- 
tions. In like manner, it is the coasts of Syria and 
of Asia Minor which are liable to these tremendous 
visitations. At the period of the earthquake of 
Lisbon, on November 1, 1755, the ocean inundated, 
in Europe, the coasts of Sweden, England, and Spain ; 
in America, the islands of Antigua, Barbadoes, and 
Martinique. At Barbadoes, where the tides rise only 
from twenty -four to twenty-eight inches, the water rose 
twenty feet in Carlisle Bay, and became " as black 
as ink." In the West Indies, and in several lakes of 
Switzerland, this extraordinary motion of the waters 
was observed six hours after the first shock was felt at 
Lisbon. At Cadiz, a mountain of water sixty feet 
high was seen eight miles distant at sea, which threw 
itself impetuously on the coast, and beat down a 
great number of edifices ; like the wave eighty -four 
feet high, which, on the 9th of June, 1586, at the 
time of the great earthquake of Lima, entered the 
port of Callao. These phenomena, M. Humboldt 
adduces as proofs of subterranean communications at 
enormous distances. The interest of the subject will 
sufficiently justify the length of this digression. 

Cumana stands in lat. 10° 2?' 52" N., and long. 
66° 30' 2" W. of Paris.* The climate is very hot. 
From the month of June to the end of October, 
the temperature usually rises to 90° or even 95° of 

* According to Humboldt. M. Depons states it to be in lat. 
10° 37' 37" N., and long. 6(5° 30' W. of Paris. M. Lavaysse says, 
lat. 10° 37' N., and long. 64° 10' W. 



COLOMBIA. 



41 



Fahr. during the day, and seldom descends to 80° 
during the night. The sea-breeze, however, tempers 
the heat of the climate. From the beginning of 
November to the end of March, the heats are not so 
great : the thermometer is then between 82° and 84° 
in the daytime, and generally falls to 77° and even 
75° in the night. * There is scarcely ever any rain in 
the plain in which Cumana is situated, though it fre- 
quently rains in the adjacent mountains. u In very 
heavy showers," says Humboldt, " we hear in the 
streets, Que hielo ! estoy emparamado. How icy cold ! 
I shiver as if I was on the top of the mountains ; — 
though the thermometer, exposed to the rain, sinks 
only to 21-5° (centigrade thermometer)." The heats 
are somewhat less oppressive on the side towards the 
sea-shore than in the old town, where the calcareous 
soil and the proximity of the hill of Fort San Antonio, 
combine to raise the temperature in an extraordinary 
degree. In the suburb of the Guayquerias, the sea- 
breezes have free access, and the soil, being clayey, is 
thought to be less exposed on that account to the 
violent shocks of earthquakes. The suburbs are 
almost as populous as the ancient town. On the road 
to the Plaga Chica, north of the city, is that of 
Los Serritos ; towards the S.E. is that of San Fran- 
cisco ; that of the Guayquerias is the most consider- 
able. These natives are a tribe of civilised Indians, 
the finest race of men, next to the Caribs of Spanish 
Guayana, in this country. They originally belonged 
to the Guaraouno nation, of whom some traces still 
exist in the swampy lands bordering on the Orinoco ; 
but for a century past, no native of either Cumana or 

* Lavaysse, p. 103. M. Depons says, the thermometer of 
Reaumur rises in July to 23° in the day, and to 19° in the night; 
the maximum is 27° ; the minimum 17°. 



42 



COLOMBIA. 



Margarita lias spoken any language but the Castilian. 
The denomination of Guayquerias, like that of Peru- 
vian, owes its origin to a mistake. " The companions 
of Christopher Columbus, coasting along the island of 
Margarita, where still, on the northern coast, resides 
the noblest portion of the Guayqueria nation, met a 
few natives who were harpooning fish. They asked 
them, in the Hayti language, their name ; and the 
Indians, thinking that the question related to their 
harpoons, answered, Guaike, guaike^ which signifies 
a pointed pole." They have been from the first the 
steady friends of the Spaniards, and have always been 
styled in official papers, the king's " dear, noble, and 
loyal Guayquerias." They differ very strikingly in 
physiognomy from the Chaymas and the Caribs, have 
apparently great muscular strength, and are of a com- 
plexion between brown and copper colour. They are 
chiefly fishermen. 

On leaving the Indian suburb, and ascending the 
Manzanares towards the south, the traveller arrives 
at a grove of cactus, — " a delightful spot shaded by 
tamarinds, brasilettoes, bombax, and other plants re- 
markable for their leaves and flowers." The soil here 
affords rich pasturage, and there are dairy-houses, 
built with reeds, and separated from each other by 
clumps of trees, in w T hich the milk is kept fresh in 
porous earthen vessels. " A prejudice prevalent in 
the countries of the north had long led me," says 
Humboldt, u to believe, that cows, under the torrid 
zone, do not yield rich milk ; but my abode at Cumana 
convinced me that the ruminating animals of Europe 
become perfectly habituated to the most scorching 
climates, provided they find water and good nourish- 
ment. The milk is excellent in the provinces of New 
Andalusia (Cumana), Barcelona, and Venezuela (Ca- 



COLOMBIA. 



43 



racas) ; and the butter is better in the plains of the 
equinoctial zones than on the ridge of the Andes, 
where the Alpine plants, enjoying in no season a suf- 
ficiently high temperature, are less aromatic than on 
the Pyrenees, the mountains of Estremadura, and 
those of Greece." The waters of the Manzanares 
are limpid, and the banks are very pleasant, shaded by 
mimosas, erythrinas, and other trees of gigantic 
growth. The children pass great part of their lives 
in the water. " The whole of the inhabitants, even 
the women of the most opulent families, know how 
to swim ; and in a country where man is so near the 
state of nature, one of the first questions asked on 
meeting in the morning is, whether the water is 
cooler than on the preceding evening. The mode of 
bathing is various. We every evening (continues 
Humboldt) visited a very respectable society in the 
suburb of the Guayquerias. In a fine moonlight 
night, chairs were placed in the water ; the men and 
women were lightly clothed, as in some baths in the 
north of Europe, and the family and strangers, assem- 
bled in the river, passed some time in smoking segars, 
and in talking, according to the custom of the country, 
of the extreme dryness of the season, of the abundant 
rains in the neighbouring district, and particularly of 
the luxury of which the ladies of Cumana accuse those 
of Caracas and the Havannah. The company were 
under no apprehensions from the havas or small cro- 
codiles, which are now extremely scarce, and approach 
men without attacking them. These animals are 
three or four feet long. We never met with them in 
the Manzanares, but with a great number of dolphins 
(toninas), which sometimes ascend the river in the 
night, and frighten the bathers by spouting water." 
The longitudinal valley traversed by the river, is 



44 



COLOMBIA. 



formed by the lofty mountains of the interior and 
the southern declivity of the Cerro de San Antonio. 
This plain, which is the only thoroughly wooded part 
in the environs, is called the Plain des Charas (cor- 
rupted from ckacras, garden-cottages), on account of 
the numerous plantations along the river. A narrow 
path leads across the forest, from the hill of San Fran- 
cisco to the hospice of the Capuchins, a very pleasant 
country-house, built by the Arragonese monks as 
an asylum for aged and infirm missionaries. Ad- 
vancing towards the west, the trees of the forest 
become larger, and a few monkeys (macki) are met 
with, which are rare in the neighbourhood of Cumana. 
The Manzanares, like all the rivers of this province, 
has its source in that part of the llanos distinguished 
by the names of the mesas or plateaus of Jonoro, 
Amana, and Guanipe. Were irrigation introduced, 
the whole of this plain might be rendered productive. 
As it is, all the plains, especially those on the coast, 
wear a melancholy, dusty, and arid appearance, ex- 
cept where the windings of the river are distinguish- 
able by the fresh and luxuriant vegetation on its bor- 
ders. " The hill of Fort San Antonio, solitary, white, 
and bare, reflects a great mass of light and radiant 
heat: it is composed of breccia. In the distance, 
towards the south, a vast and gloomy curtain of 
mountains stretches along. These are the high cal- 
careous Alps of New Andalusia, surmounted by sand- 
stone and other more recent formations. Majestic 
forests clothe this Cordillera, which are joined by a 
wooded vale to the open clayey lands and salt marshes 
in the immediate vicinity of Cumana. A few birds 
of considerable size contribute to give a particular 
character to these countries. On the sea-shore, and 
in the gulf, are seen flocks of fishing herons and alca- 



COLOMBIA. 



45 



iras, a large species of pelican of a very unwieldy 
form, which swim, like the swan, raising their wings.* 
Nearer the habitations of men, thousands of galinazos 
(carrion vultures), the true jackals of the winged 
tribe, are ever busy in stripping the carcases of ani- 
mals." u After violent showers, the dried plain ex- 
hibits an extraordinary phenomenon. The earth 
drenched with rain, and again heated by the rays of 
the sun, emits that musky odour which, under the 
torrid zone, is common to animals of very different 
classes,. — to the jaguar, the small species of tiger-cat, 
the thick-nosed tapir, the galinazo vulture, the cro- 
codile, the viper, and the rattle-snake. The gaseous 
emanations which are the vehicle of this odour, ap- 
pear to be evolved in proportion only as the mould, 
containing the spoils of an innumerable quantity of 
reptiles, worms, and insects, begins to be impregnated 
with water. I have seen Indian children of the tribe 
of the Chaymas, draw out from the earth and eat 
millepedes or scolopendras eighteen inches long and 

* t( Nothing can be more agreeable," says M. Lavaysse, speaking 
of the innumerable marine birds that frequent the gulf, * ' than 
to see at sun-rise all those birds issuing by thousands from the 
mangrove-trees, where they pass the night, and disperse over the 
surface of the water to seek their food. When their hunger is satis- 
fied, some repose on the mud and sand-banks ; some swim on the 
water for mere diversion ; while others cover the branches of all 
the neighbouring trees. I have seen a bank of sand above 300 
yards in length, and the little banks or islands near it, entirely 
covered with these aquatic birds. Those I recognised were flamin- 
goes of all ages and colours, pelicans, herons, boobies, five or six 
kinds of ducks, of which one is larger than that of India, several 
kinds of water-hens, and a bird as white and as large as a swan, 
but which has a long beak, red and pointed, longer and more deli- 
cate legg, and feet formed like those of the swan; it swims like 
that bird, but flies much better. I also saw many other birds 
which, I am sure, have never been described by any naturalist." — 
Lavaysse, p. 110. 

c 2 



COLOMBIA. 



seven lines broad. Whenever the soil is turned up, 
we are struck with the mass of organic substances 
which by turns are developed, transformed, and de- 
composed. Nature in these climates appears more 
active, more fruitful, we might even say, more pro- 
digal of life. 

u As the inhabitants of Cumana prefer the coolness 
of the sea-breeze to the appearance of vegetation, 
they are accustomed to no other walk than that of the 
open shore. The Spaniards, who are accused in gene- 
ral of having no predilection for trees or the warbling 
of birds, have transported their prejudices and their 
habits into the colonies. In Terra Firma, Mexico, 
and Peru, it is rare to see a native plant a tree merely 
with the view to procure himself shade ; and if we ex- 
cept the environs of the great capitals, walks bordered 
with trees are almost unknown in these countries. 
On the shore, we enjoy, especially at sun-rise, a very 
beautiful prospect over an elevated groupe of cal- 
careous mountains. Storms are formed in the centre 
of this cordillera ; and we see from afar thick clouds 
resolve themselves into abundant rains, while, during 
seven or eight months, not a drop falls at Cumana. 
The Brigantine, which is the highest part of this 
chain, raises itself in a very picturesque manner be- 
hind Brito and Tataraqual. It takes its name from 
the form of a very deep valley on the northern decli- 
vity, which resembles the inside of a ship. The sum- 
mit of this mountain is almost bare of vegetation, and 
flattened like that of Mowna-Roa in the Sandwich 
Islands. It is a perpendicular wall, or, to use a more 
expressive term of the Spanish navigators, a table 
{mesa). The governor of Cumana sent, in 1797? a 
band of determined men to explore this entirely desert 
country, and to open a direct road to New Barcelona 



COLOMBIA. 



47 



by the summit of the Mesa. It was reasonably ex- 
pected, that this way would be shorter and less dan- 
gerous to the health of travellers than that which is 
pursued by the couriers along the coast ; but every 
attempt to cross the chain of the Brigantine is 
fruitless. In this part of America, as in the Blue 
Mountains of New Holland, it is not so much the 
height of the Cordilleras, as the form of the rocks, 
that presents obstacles difficult to surmount. 

" The port of Cumana is a road capable of receiving 
all the navies of Europe. The whole of the Gulf of Car- 
iaco, which is 35 miles long and 68 miles broad, affords 
excellent anchorage. The great ocean is not more calm 
and pacific on the coasts of Peru, than the Sea of the 
Antilles from Puerto Cabello, and especially from 
Cape Cordera to the Point of Paria. The hurricanes 
of the West Indies are never felt in these regions ; and 
the vessels are without decks. The only danger in 
the port of Cumana, is the shoal of Morro Roxo, 
which is 900 fathoms broad from E. to W., and so 
steep, that you are upon it almost without warning."* 

One of the excursions which JVL Humboldt made 
during his residence at Cumana, was to the peninsula 
of Araya on the opposite side of the gulf. They em- 
barked on the river Manzanares about two in the 
morning. " The night was delightfully cool. Swarms 
of phosphorescent insects glittered in the air. We 

* Pers. Narr. vol. ii. p. 204 — 12. M. Lavaysse describes the 
gulf as twelve leagues long and from three to four in breadth 
throughout its extent. Even if Spanish leagues be meant, this is 
strangely at variance with Humboldt. He agrees with the latter 
in describing it as a magnificent port, where large ships may ride 
in safety from all weathers, offering in all parts good anchorage 
and natural wharfs. «« Batteries of heavy mortars placed at each 
side of the entrance, could hinder the most formidable fleets from 
entering." p. 109. 



48 



COLOMBIA. 



know how common the glow-worm is in the south of 
Europe ; but the picturesque effect it produces, cannot 
be compared to those innumerable, scattered, and 
moving lights that embellish the nights of the torrid 
zone, and seem to repeat on the earth, along the vast 
extent of the savannas, the spectacle of the starry 
vault of the sky. As we drew near some plantations, 
we saw bonfires kindled by the negroes : a light, un- 
dulating smoke rose to the tops of the palm-trees, and 
gave a reddish colour to the disk of the moon. It 
was on a Sunday night, and the slaves were dancing 
to the noisy and monotonous music of the guitar. 
We landed about eight in the morning at the Point of 
Araya, near the new salt-works. A solitary house 
stands in a plain destitute of vegetation, near a bat- 
tery of three guns, which is the only defence of this 
coast, since the destruction of Fort San Diego. The 
inspector of the salt-works passes his life in a ham- 
mock, whence he issues his orders to the workmen : 
a king's boat (la lancha del re) brings him every 
week his provisions from Cumana. It is surprising, 
that a salt -work which formerly excited the jealousy 
of the English, the Dutch, and other maritime powers, 
has not given rise to a village or even a farm : a few 
huts only of poor Indian fishermen are found at the 
extremity of the Point of Araya. 

" The abundance of salt contained in the peninsula 
of Araya, was already known to Alonzo Ninno, when, 
following the steps of Columbus, Ojeda, and Amerigo 
Vespucci, he visited these countries in 1499. Though, 
of all the people on the globe, the natives of America 
are those who consume the least salt, because they 
scarcely eat any thing but vegetables, it nevertheless 
appears, that the Guayquerias already dug into the 
clayey and muriatiferous soil of Punta Arenas* Even 



COLOMBIA. 



4<J 



tlie brine-pits, which are now called new^and which 
are situate at the extremity of Cape Araya, had been 
worked at very early periods. The Spaniards settled 
at first at Cubagua, and soon after on the coasts of 
Cumana, worked, from the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, the salt marshes which stretch away in the 
form of a mere to the north of Cerro de la Vela. As 
at that period the peninsula of Araya had no settled 
population, the Dutch availed themselves of the na- 
tural riches of a soil which appeared a property com- 
mon to all nations. In our days, each colony has its 
own salt-works, and navigation is so much improved, 
that the merchants of Cadiz can send salt, at small ex- 
pense, from Spain and Portugal to the southern hemi- 
sphere, a distance of 1,900 leagues, to cure meat at 
Monte Video and Buenos Ayres. These advantages 
were unknown at the time of the conquest ; colonial 
industry had then made so little progress, that the 
salt of Araya was carried at great expense to the West 
India Islands, Carthagena, and Portobello. In 1605, 
the court of Madrid sent armed ships to Punta Araya, 
with orders to station themselves there, and expel 
the Dutch by force of arms. The Dutch, however, 
continued to carry on a contraband trade in salt till, 
in 1622, a fort was built near the salt-works, that 
afterward became celebrated under the name of the 
Castillo de Santiago, or of the Real Fuerza de Araya. 
The great salt marshes are laid down on the old- 
est Spanish maps, sometimes as a bay, and at other 
times as a mere. Laet, who wrote his Orbis Novus 
in 1633, and who had some excellent notions respect- 
ing these coasts, expressly states, that the mere was 
separated from the sea by an isthmus above the level 
of high water. In 1726, an extraordinary event de- 
stroyed the salt-works of Araya, and rendered the 



50 



COLOMBIA. 



fort, the construction of which had cost more than a 
million of piastres , useless. An impetuous hurricane 
took place, which was a very rare phenomenon in 
these regions, where the sea is in general as calm as 
the water in our large rivers. The waves overflowed 
the land to a great extent ; and by the effect of this 
irruption of the ocean, the salt-lake was converted 
into a gulf several miles in length. Since this period, 
artificial reservoirs, or pits (vasets), have been formed, 
to the north of the range of hills which separates the 
castle from the northern coast of the peninsula.* 

" The province of Caracas possesses fine salt-works 
at Los Rogues : that which formerly existed at the 
small island of Tovtuga, where the soil is strongly im- 
pregnated with muriat of soda, was destroyed by order 
of the Spanish government. A canal was made, by 
which the sea has free access to the salt-marshes, 
foreign nations who have colonies in the West 
Indies, frequent this uninhabited island ; and the 
court of Madrid, from views of suspicious policy, was 
apprehensive, that the salt-works of Tortuga would 
have given rise to settlements, by means of which an 
illicit trade would have been carried on with Terra 
Firma. 

f 6 The royal administration of the salt-works of 
Araya dates only from the year 1792. Before that 
period, they were in the hands of Indian fishermen, 
who manufactured salt at their pleasure, and sold it, 

* Of between 9 and 10,000 fanegas (each 4001b. weight) fur- 
nished by Cumana and Barcelona in 1799, 3,000 only were pro- 
duced by the salt-works of Araya : the rest was extracted from 
the sea-water at the morro of Barcelona, at Pozuelos, at Piritu, 
and in the Golfo Triste. In Mexico, the salt lake of Penon Blanco 
alone furnishes yearly more than 250,000 fanegas of unpurified 
salt.' 



COLOMBIA. 



51 



paying the government the moderate sum of 300 
piastres. The price of the fanega was then four reals ; 
but the salt was extremely impure, grey, mixed with 
earthy particles, and surcharged with muriat and 
sulphat of magnesia. As the manufacture or labour 
of the salt-makers was also carried on in the most 
irregular manner, salt was often wanted for curing 
meat and fish ; a circumstance that has a powerful 
influence in these countries on the progress of in- 
dustry, as the lower class of people and the slaves live 
on fish and a small portion of tasajo. Since the 
province of Cumana has become dependent on the 
intendancy of Caracas^ the sale of salt is under the 
excise ; and the fanega, which the Guayquerias sold 
at half a piastre, costs a piastre and a half.* This 
augmentation of price is slightly compensated by a 
greater purity of the salt, and by the facility with 
which the fishermen and farmers can procure it in 
abundance during the whole year. The salt-works 
of Araya yielded the treasury, in 1799, a clear income 
of 8,000 piastres." 

The Travellers passed the night in a hut which 
formed part of a groupe of small habitations on the 
border of the salt-lake, the remains of a considerable 
village. The ruins of a church are seen buried in the 
sand, and covered with brushwood. The castle of 
Araya was totally dismantled in 1765, to save the 
expense of the garrison. Standing singly on a bare and 
arid mountain, crowned with agave, columnar cactus, 
and thorny mimosa, the ruins resemble less the works 
of man, than a mass of rock ruptured by some phy- 

* «■« The fanega is sold to those Indians and fishermen who do 
not pay the duties (derechos reales), at Punta Araya for six, at 
Cumana for eight reals. The prices to the other tribes are, at 
Araya ten, at Cumana twelve reals*" 



52 



COLOMBIA. 



sical convulsion. The few inhabitants who still linger 
in this wild and barren spot, are fishermen. They 
appeared satisfied with their lot ; and when asked why 
they had no gardens, their reply was, " Our garden is 
beyond the gulf : when we carry our fish to Cumana, 
we bring back plantains, cocoa-nuts, and cassava. 1 ' 
This indolent mode of life is followed throughout the 
peninsula of Araya. The chief wealth of the inha- 
bitants consists in goats of a very large and fine 
breed ; they are of a brownish yellow colour, are en- 
tirely wild, and are marked, like the mules, to dis- 
tinguish them. " If, in hunting, a colonist kills a 
goat which he does not consider as his own property, 
he carries it immediately to the neighbour to whom 
it belongs." In the uninhabited islet of Cubagua, deer 
of a small breed are so numerous, that an individual 
may kill three or four in a day. " The venado of 
Cubagua," Humboldt says, " belongs to one of those 
numerous species of small American deer which zoolo- 
gists have confounded under the vague name of cervus 
Mexicanus* It does not appear to be the same as 
the hind of the savannas of Cayenne, or the guazuti 
of Paraguay. Its colour is of a brownish red on the 
back, and white under the belly, and it is spotted like 
the axis. In the plains of Cari, we were shewn, as a 
very rare thing in these burning climates, a variety 
quite white : it was a female of the size of a roe-buck 
of Europe, and of a very elegant shape. White 
varieties are found in the New Continent even among 
the tigers." 

Among the mulattoes whose huts surround the salt- 
lake, M. Humboldt found a white, by trade a shoe- 
maker, who boasted of Castilian descent : he appears 



* See Mod. Trav., Mexico, vol. ii. p. 96. 



COLOMBIA. 



53 



to have been a most original personage. " He re- 
ceived us," says our Traveller, " with the air of 
gravity and self-sufficiency which, in those climates, 
characterises almost all who are conscious of possessing 
some peculiar talent. He was employed in stretching 
the string of his bow, and sharpening his arrows to 
kill birds. His trade of a shoemaker could not be 
very lucrative in a country where the greater part of 
the inhabitants go barefoot ; and he complained, 
that, on account of the dearness of European gun- 
powder, a man of his quality was reduced to employ 
the same weapons as the Indians. He was the sage 
of the plain ; he understood the formation of the salt 
by the influence of the sun and the full moon, the 
symptoms of earthquakes, the marks by which mines 
of gold and silver are discovered, and the medicinal 
plants, which he divided, like all the other colonists 
from Chili to California, into hot and cold* Having 
collected the traditions of the country, he gave us 
some curious accounts of the pearls of Cubagua, ob- 
jects of luxury which he treated with the utmost 
contempt. To shew us how familiar to him were the 
sacred writings, he took a pride in quoting to us Job, 
who preferred wisdom to all the pearls of the Indies. 
His philosophy was circumscribed to the narrow circle 
of the wants of life. A very strong ass, able to carry 
a heavy load of plantains to the embarcadere, was the 
object of all his wishes. After a long discourse on 
the emptiness of human grandeur, he drew from a 
leathern pouch a few very small and opaque pearls, 
which he forced us to accept, enjoining us at the same 
time to note on our tablets, that a poor shoemaker of 

* " Exciting or debilitating, sthenic or asthenic of Brown's 
system." 



54 



COLOMBIA. 



Araya, but a white man, and of noble Castilian race, 
had been enabled to give us what on the other side of 
the sea* was sought for as a very precious thing. I 
acquit myself rather late of the promise I made to this 
honest man ; and I am happy to add, that his disin- 
terestedness did not permit him to accept of the 
slightest retribution. The Pearl Coast presents, it is 
true, the same aspect of misery as the countries of gold 
and diamonds, Choco and Brazil ; but misery is not 
there attended with that immoderate desire of gain 
which is excited by mineral riches." 

The islands of Margarita, Cubagua, and Coche, Punta 
Araya, and the mouth of the Bio de la Hacha, were as 
celebrated in the sixteenth century for the pearls 
which abound all along this coast, as the Persian Gulf 
and the island Taprobane were among the ancients. 
The island of Coche alone yielded, at the beginning 
of the conquest, pearls to the amount of 1,500 marcs 
every month. At a time that the whole of the mines 
of America did not furnish two millions of piastres 
per annum, the value of the pearls sent to Europe 
amounted on an average to upwards of 800,000 
piastres. 44 Pearls were so much the more sought 
after, as the luxury of Asia had been introduced into 
Europe by two opposite channels ; that of Constan- 
tinople, where the Paleologi wore garments covered 
with strings of pearls ; and that of Grenada, where 
the Moorish kings displayed at their court all the 
luxury of the East. The pearls of the East Indies 
were preferred to those of the West ; but the number 
of the latter which circulated in commerce, was not 
less considerable in the times that immediately fol- 

* f( Tor alia, or, del otro lado del charco (properly, ' beyond the 
great mere'), a figurative expression, by which the people in the 
Spanish colonies denote Europe." 



COLOMBIA. 



55 



lowed the discovery of America. In Italy, as well as 
in Spain, the islet of Cubagua became the object of 
numerous mercantile speculations. The pearl fishery 
diminished rapidly towards the end of the sixteenth 
century, and had long ceased in 1683. The industry 
of the Venetians, who imitated fine pearls with great 
exactness, and the frequent use of cut diamonds, ren- 
dered the fisheries of Cubagua less lucrative. At the 
same time, the oysters which yielded the pearls be- 
came scarcer, because their propagation had been 
checked by the imprudent destruction of the shells by 
thousands. At present, Spanish America furnishes 
no other pearls for trade, than those of the Gulf of 
Panama and the mouth of the Rio de la Hacha. On 
the shoals that surround Cabagua, Coche, and the 
island of Margarita, the fishery is as much neglected 
as on the coasts of California.* 

" It is believed," adds M. Humboldt, " that after 
two centuries of repose, the pearl aronde has again 
greatly multiplied." In 1812, some attempts were 
made at Margarita to revive the pearl fishery. M. 
Lavaysse, indeed, states, that he saw an individual 
in 1807, who had procured about 400 pearls in the 
course of the preceding year. There seems reason to 
believe, however, that, from some cause or other, the 
oyster has degenerated, the pearls now found being 
much smaller and of less brilliancy than those obtained 
at the time of the conquest. The first Spaniards who 
landed in Terra Firma, found the savages decked with 
necklaces and bracelets of beautiful pearls. These 
treasures of the deep proved not less fatal to the na- 
tives than the gold of Brazil and the silver of Mexico. 
Indeed, the hardships endured by those who were 



* See Mod. Trav., Mexico, vol. ii. p. 99. 



-56 



COLOMBIA. 



compelled to labour in the mines, were not to be com- 
pared with the sufferings inflicted on the pearl-divers. 
Las Casas has described, " not without some exagge- 
ration," says M. Humboldt, the cruelties exercised 
on the unhappy Indian and negro slaves employed in 
the pearl fishery. It is certain, however, that the 
waste of human life was most horrible. 

Four hours' walk from the salt-water lake is the 
village of Maniquarez, celebrated for its potteries, 
which are entirely in the hands of the Indian women. 
Three centuries have been insufficient to introduce 
the potter's wheel on a coast which is not above thirty 
or forty days' sail from Spain. Being unacquainted 
with the use of ovens, they place twigs of cassia and 
other shrubs round the pots, and bake them in the 
open air. The clay, which is found in quarries half 
a league to the east of Maniquarez, is produced by the 
natural decomposition of a mica-slate reddened by 
oxide of iron. 

Of all the productions on the coasts of Araya, that 
which the natives deem the most extraordinary, is the 
piedra de los ojos (stone of the eyes) : according to 
their natural philosophy, it is both a stone and an 
animal. " It is found in the sand, where it is mo- 
tionless ; but, placed singly on a polished surface, for 
instance, on a pewter or earthen plate, it moves when 
excited by lemon -juice. Placed in the eye, the pre- 
tended animal turns on itself, and expels any other 
foreign substance that may have been accidentally in- 
troduced. At the new salt-works, and at the village 
of Maniquarez," continues Humboldt, " the ' stones 
of the eyes ' were offered us by hundreds, and the 
natives were eager to shew us the experiment of the 
lemon-juice. They wished to put sand into our eyes, 
in order that we might ourselves try the efficacy of 



COLOMBIA. 



57 



the remedy. It was easy to perceive that these stones 
are thin and porous opercula, which have formed part 
of small univalve shells. Their diameter varies from 
one to four lines. One of their surfaces is plane, the 
other convex. These calcareous opercula effervesce 
with lemon -juice, and put themselves in motion as 
the carbonic acid is disengaged. By the effect of a 
similar re -action, loaves placed in an oven some- 
times move in a horizontal plane ; a phenomenon that 
has given rise to the popular notion of enchanted 
ovens. Introduced into the eye, the piedras de los 
ojos act like small pearls and different round grains 
employed by the American savages to increase the 
flowing of tears. These explanations were little to 
the taste of the inhabitants of Araya." 

Proceeding along the southern coast to the east of 
Maniquarez, three strips of land are found running 
out into the sea very near each other, called Punta 
de Soto, Punta de la Brea (Tar Cape), and Punta 
Guaratarito. Near the second of these points, at 
eighty feet distance from the shore, a spring of 
naphtha rises, and covers the surface of the sea for a 
distance of more than a thousand feet. The smell 
spreads itself into the interior of the peninsula. This 
phenomenon is the more remarkable, as the bottom 
of the gulf is here formed of primitive mica-slate ; 
whereas all the fountains of naphtha hitherto known 
originate in secondary formations, and have been sup- 
posed to be produced by the decomposition of vegetable 
and animal substances, or the burning of coal. It 
is observable also, that the same primitive rocks con- 
tain the subterraneous fires ; that the smell of petro- 
leum is frequently perceived on the brink of burning 
craters ; and that the greater number of hot springs 



58 



COLOMBIA. 



in the American continent, issue from gneiss and 
micaceous schist. The largest reservoir of petroleum 
is that of the island of Trinidad. 

FROM CUMANA TO THE MISSIONS OF THE CHAYMA 
INDIANS. 

Another excursion made by the learned Travel- 
lers we are following, during their residence at Cu- 
mana, was to the missions of the Chayma Indians in 
the interior of the mountains. To the exertions of 
the religious orders by whom these institutions 
were founded, we must certainly attribute the intro- 
duction of a more humane system of civilisation, which 
put a stop to the effusion of blood, and laid the foun- 
dation of social communities in the recesses of the 
wilderness. But these same institutions have, in 
their result, proved hostile to the progress of civilisa- 
tion. u The Indians have remained in a state little 
different from that in which they existed when their 
scattered dwellings were not as yet collected round 
the habitation of the missionary. Their number has 
considerably augmented, but the sphere of their ideas 
is not enlarged. They have progressively lost that 
vigour of character and that natural vivacity which, 
in every state of society, are the noble fruits of inde- 
pendence. In subjecting to invariable rules even the 
slightest actions of their domestic life, they have been 
rendered stupid by the effort to render them obedient. 
Their subsistence is in general more certain, and their 
habits more pacific ; but, subject to the constraint and 
the dull monotony of the government of the missions, 
they discover by their gloomy and reserved looks, that 
they have not without regret sacrificed their liberty 



COLOMBIA. 



59 



to their repose. The monastic system, confined to 
the cloister, while it deprives the state of useful 
citizens, may sometimes contribute to calm the pas- 
sions, to soothe incurable sorrows, and fit the mind for 
meditation ; but, transplanted into the forests of the 
New World, and applied to the numerous relations of 
civil society, it has consequences so much the more 
fatal as its duration is prolonged. It enchains, from 
generation to generation, the intellectual faculties, 
interrupts the intercourse of nations, and is hostile 
to whatever elevates the mind or enlarges its concep- 
tions." Such is the very just and striking picture 
which Humboldt draws, of the effects of the hierocratic 
government of the Romish missions, connected as it 
always has been with the fatal policy of accom- 
modating Christianity to the prejudices and super- 
stitions of its nominal converts. " From these united 
causes," he adds, " the natives who inhabit the 
missions, are kept in a state remote from all improve- 
ment, and which we should call stationary, did not 
societies follow the course of the human mind, and 
retrograde whenever they cease to go forward." * 

The Travellers left Cumana on the 4th of Sep- 
tember, 1799. The road, " or rather path," follows 
the right bank of the Manzanares. At the hospital 
of the Divina Pastora, it turns to the north-east, and 
lies for two leagues over a level tract bare of trees, 
along the southern side of hills which Humboldt 
supposes to have formed at one time an island. At 
the end of two hours, they arrived at the foot of 
the high chain stretching east and west from the 
Brigantine to the Cerro de San Lorenzo. Here, 
every object begins to assume a more majestic and 



* Pers. Narr. vol. iii. pp. 4 — 6. 



60 



COLOMBIA. 



picturesque character. New rocks appear, and the 
vegetation wears a different aspect. The soil, 
watered by springs, is furrowed by channels in every 
direction, and trees of gigantic loftiness, covered with 
lianas, rise from the ravines. Their bark, black and 
burnt by the double action of the light and the oxygen 
of the atmosphere, forms a contrast with the fresh 
verdure of the long, tough, shining leaves of the 
pothos and dracontium. The forms and grouping of 
the rocks reminded the Travellers, as they advanced, 
of the scenes of Switzerland and the Tyrol. The path 
insensibly ascends through the thick forests which 
clothe the acclivity. Here and there, some trace 
of cultivation presents itself, and solitary huts are 
met with, inhabited by mestizoes, placed in the midst 
of enclosures of bananas, papaw-trees, sugar-canes, 
and maize.* Owing to the fecundity of the soil and 
the astonishing productiveness of the alimentary 
plants which constitute the food of the natives in these 
tropical regions, a small spot of cultivated land suf- 
fices to supply the wants of several families.-}- The 
spontaneous vegetation, therefore, still predominates 
in quantity over the cultivated plants, and determines 
the aspect of the landscape. " Man," says Hum- 
boldt, u here appears, not the absolute master, 
changing at will the surface of the soil, but a tran- 
sient guest, who quietly enjoys the gifts of nature.' ' 
At the end of ten hours, the travellers halted at 
Quetepe, a small hamlet built near a delicious spring, 

* These cultivated spots are found, Humboldt says, wherever 
the Alpine limestone is covered with a quartzose sandstone, con- 
taining thin strata of a blackish clay-slate, which detain the water, 
and produce a humidity of soil favourable to vegetation. 

t An acre planted with plantains, produces nearly twenty times 
as much food as the same space sown with corn. 



COLOMBIA. 



61 



distant from Cumana in a straight line about three 
leagues and a half : the plain is about 190 toises 
above the level of the sea. The road to Cumanacoa 
now lies in a south-west direction over the groupe of 
mountains which separates the coast from the Llanos. 
This part of the chain is destitute of vegetation, and 
has steep declivities both towards the north and 
the south. It is called El Imposible, 44 because it is 
believed, that, in case of an enemy's landing, this 
ridge of mountains would afford an asylum to the 
inhabitants of Cumana. When Cumana, after the 
capture of Trinidad by the English in 1797, was 
threatened with an attack, many of the inhabitants 
fled to Cumanacoa, and deposited what they possessed 
of most value in sheds hastily constructed on the 
summit." Here M. Humboldt and his companion 
passed the night at a military post, consisting of 
a hospital built by the side of a powder magazine, 
occupied by eight men under a Spanish serjeant. 
The Llaneros, or inhabitants of the plains, send their 
produce, chiefly maize, hides, and cattle, to the port 
of Cumana by the road over the Imposible, which 
may be considered as the key of the Llanos. From 
the summit is obtained a fine and extensive view, 
including the flattened top of the Brigantine, the port 
of Cumana, the rocky peninsula of Araya, and the 
Laguna del Obispo, or Laguna Grande, a vast basin 
surrounded with mountains, which communicates 
with the Gulf of Cariaco by a narrow channel, 
capable of admitting the passage of only one vessel at 
a time. This port is an uninhabited place, but is 
annually frequented by vessels laden with mules for 
the West India Islands. The elevation of the guard- 
house is 258 toises above the sea. 

The descent from the Imposible is very dangerous 

FAUT I. E 



62 



COLOMBIA, 



for beasts of burden ; the path is in general but 
fifteen inches broad, and bordered with precipices. 
In 179G, a fine road from the village of San Fernando 
was begun, and a third part of it finished, but, 
like almost all similar plans of improvement under 
the colonial system, it was made a job, and the people 
were rated for a road which had no existence, till the 
governor of Cumana put an end to the abuse. On 
the banks of the numerous mountain rivulets grow 
the hura, the cuspa (a species of cinchona, or cascarilla- 
tree, the bark of which is an excellent febrifuge), and 
the silver -leaved cecropia, or trumpet-tree. At the end 
of the ravine through which the road descends from 
the Imposible, the traveller enters a thick forest, 
traversed by numerous small rivers easily fordable ; 
and to the stranger newly arrived from Europe, 
the new aspect which nature assumes is striking and 
unexpected. " The objects which surround him," 
says M. Humboldt, u make him feel at every step, 
that he is not on the confines, but in the centre of the 
torrid zone : not in one of the West India Islands, 
but on a vast continent, where every thing is gigantic, 
the mountains, the rivers, and the mass of vegetation. 
If he feel strongly the beauty of picturesque scenery, 
he can scarcely define the various emotions which 
crowd upon his mind ; he can scarcely distinguish 
what most excites his admiration, the deep silence 
of those solitudes, the individual beauty and contrast 
of forms, or that vigour and freshness of vegetable 
life which characterise the climate of the tropics. It 
might be said that the earth, overloaded with plants, 
does not allow them space enough to unfold them- 
selves. The trunks of the trees are every where 
concealed under a thick carpet of verdure ; and if we 
carefully transplanted the orchidea?, the pipers, and 



COLOMBIA. 



63 



the pothos, which a single courbaril, or American 
fig-tree, nourishes, we should cover a vast extent 
of ground. By this singular assemblage, the forests, 
as well as the flanks of the rocks and mountains, 
enlarge the domains of organic nature. The same 
lianas that creep on the ground, reach the tops of 
the trees, and pass from one to another at the height 
of more than a hundred feet. Thus, by a continual 
interlacing of parasite plants, the botanist is often led 
to confound the flowers, fruits, and leaves which belong 
to different species. 

" We walked for some hours under the shade 
of these arcades, that scarcely admit a glimpse of the 
sky ; which appeared to me of an indigo blue, so 
much the deeper as the green of the equinoctial plants 
is generally of a stronger hue, with somewhat of a 
brownish tint. A great fern-tree, very different 
from the polypodium arboreum of the West Indies, 
rose above masses of scattered rocks. In this place, 
we were struck for the first time with the sight of 
those nests, in the shape of bottles or small pockets, 
which are suspended to the branches of the lowest 
trees, and which attest the admirable industry of the 
orioles, that mingle their warblings with the hoarse 
cries of the parrots and the macaws. These last, 
so well known for their vivid colours, fly only in 
pairs, while the real parrots wander about in flocks of 
several hundreds. A man must have lived in those 
climates, particularly in the hot valleys of the Andes, 
to conceive how these birds sometimes drown with 
their voice the noise of the torrents which rush down 
from rock to rock. 

" We left the forests at the distance of somewhat 
more than a league from the village of San Fernando. 
A narrow path led, after many windings, into an 



64 



COLOMBIA. 



open, but extremely humid country. In the tem- 
perate zone, the cyperaceous and gramineous plants 
would have formed vast meadows ; here the soil 
abounded in aquatic plants, with sagittate leaves, and 
especially in basil plants, among which we noticed the 
fine flowers of the costus, the thalia, and the heliconia. 
These succulent plants are from eight to ten feet 
high, and in Europe their assemblage would be 
considered as a little wood. The delightful view 
of meadows and of turf sprinkled with flowers, is 
almost entirely wanting in the low regions of the 
torrid zone, and is to be found only in the elevated 
plains of the Andes.'* 

A road skirted with a very elegant species of 
bamboo (bamhusa guadua)^ more than forty feet high, 
led to the village, or, as it is termed, jnieblo de mision. 
It is situated in a narrow plain, shut in by steep 
calcareous rocks. The plan on which it is built, is 
the same that is common to almost all the villages 
and missions in the Spanish colonies. A great square 
in the centre contains the church, the dwelling of the 
cura doctrinero^ or parish priest, and the humble 
edifice dignified with the title of the casa del Rey, 
which serves for a caravanserai. The streets, which 
are wide and very straight, diverging from this 
square, cross each other at right angles. The huts 
are slightly constructed of clay, strengthened by 
lianas ; they are detached, but not surrounded with 
gardens. The uniformity of their construction, the 
grave and taciturn air of the inhabitants, and the 
extreme neatness that reigns throughout their habita- 
tions, reminded the Travellers of the establishments 
of the Moravian brethren. Every Indian family 
cultivates, at some distance from the village, besides 
its own garden, that of the community, in which the 



COLOMBIA. 



65 



adults of both sexes work for one hour in the morn- 
ing and one in the evening. This common garden 
(conuco de la comunidad)^ in the missions nearer the 
coast, is generally either a sugar or an indigo planta- 
tion. According to an old regulation, a white not an 
ecclesiastic is not permitted to remain more than one 
night in an Indian village. M. Humboldt, however, 
had provided himself with a recommendation to the 
friars who governed the Chayma missions, from their 
syndic at Cumana. " The missionary of San Fer- 
nando was a capuchin, a native of Arragon, far 
advanced in years, but strong and healthy. His 
extreme corpulency, his hilarity, the interest he took 
in battles and sieges, ill accorded with the ideas 
we form in our northern countries of the melancholy 
reveries and the contemplative life of missionaries. 
Though extremely busy about a cow which was to be 
killed the next day, the old monk received us with 
kindness, and permitted us to hang up our hammocks 
in a gallery of his house. Seated, without doing any 
thing, the greater part of the day, in an arm-chair of 
red wood, he bitterly complained of what he called 
the indolence and ignorance of his countrymen. He 
asked a thousand questions on the real object of our 
journey, which appeared to him hazardous, and, at all 
events, useless. Here, as at Oroonoko, we were 
fatigued by that restless curiosity which the Europeans 
preserve in the forests of America respecting the wars 
and political convulsions of the Old World. 

" Our missionary, however, seemed well satisfied 
with his situation. He treated the Indians with 
mildness ; he beheld his mission prosper ; and he 
praised with enthusiasm the waters, the bananas, and 
the dairy produce of the canton. The sight of our 
instruments, our books, and our dried plants, drew 
E 2 



00 



COLOMBIA, 



from him a sarcastic smile; and he acknowledged^ 
with the naivete peculiar to those climates, that of all 
the enjoyments of life, without excepting sleep, none 
was comparable to the pleasure of eating good beef 
(came de vacca) ; so true it is, that sensuality obtains- 
an ascendancy where there is no occupation for the 
mind. Our host repeatedly urged us to pay a visit with 
him to his cow, which he had just purchased ; and on 
the morrow at sunrise, he would not dispense with 
our seeing it killed after the fashion of the country, 
that is, by ham-stringing the animal, and then 
plunging a large knife into the vertebrae of the neck. 
This disgusting operation served to shew .us the great 
address of the Chayma Indians, eight of whom, in less 
than twenty minutes, cut up the animal into small 
pieces. The price of the cow was only seven piastres ; 
but this price seemed to be thought very considerable. 
The same day the missionary had paid eighteen 
piastres to a soldier of Cumana for having succeeded, 
after many fruitless attempts, in bleeding him in the 
foot. This fact, though seemingly very unimportant, 
is a striking proof how greatly, in uncultivated 
countries, the price of things differs from that of 
labour. 

" The mission of San Fernando was founded toward 
the end of the seventeeth century, near the junction 
of the small rivers Manzanares and Lucasperez. A 
fire, which consumed the church and the huts of 
the Indians, induced the capuchins to place the vil- 
lage in its present fine situation. The number of 
families is now increased to one hundred : the mis- 
sionary observed to us, that the custom of marrying 
at thirteen or fourteen years of age, contributes greatly 
to the rapid increase of population. He denied that 
old age was so premature among the Chaymas as is 



COLOMBIA. 



67 



commonly believed in Europe. The government of 
these Indian parishes is very complicated : they have 
their governor, their major-alguazils, and their 
militia -commanders, who are all copper - coloured 
natives. The company of archers have their colours, 
and perform their exercises with the bow and arrow, 
in shooting at a mark : this is the national guard 
(militia) of the country. This military establishment 
under a purely monastic system, seemed to us very 
singular." 

The road from San Fernando to Cumanacoa, passes 
through an open and humid valley interspersed with 
small plantations. The village of Arenas, which 
occurs in the route, is one of the missions founded by 
Arragonese capuchins ; but it has ceased to be under 
their government, and the natives, though of the 
same race as those of San Fernando, are better clothed 
and more civilised : it is the residence of a regular 
priest. In this village there was living at the time of 
Humboldt's visit, a labourer named Francisco Lozano, 
who had suckled a child from his own breast. The 
following particulars are given of this remarkable 
physiological phenomenon. " The mother having 
fallen sick, the father, to quiet the infant, took it into 
his bed and pressed it to his bosom. Lozano, then 
thirty -two years of age, had never remarked till that 
day that he had milk : but the irritation of the nipple 
sucked by the child, caused the accumulation of that 
liquid. The milk was thick and very sweet. The 
father, astonished at the increased size of his breast, 
suckled his child two or three times a day during five 
months. He drew on himself the attention of his 
neighbours, but he never thought, as he probably 
would have done in Europe, of deriving any advantage 
from the curiosity he excited. We saw the cer- 



08 



COLOMBIA. 



tificate, which had been drawn up on the spot, to 
attest this remarkable fact, eye-witnesses of which 
are still living. They assured us that, during this 
suckling, the child had no other nourishment than 
the milk of his father. Lozano, who was not at 
Arenas during our journey to the missions, came 
to us at Cumana, He was accompanied by his son, 
who was thirteen or fourteen years of age. WL Bon- 
pland examined with attention the father's breast, 
and found it wrinkled like those of women who had 
given suck. He observed, that the left breast in par- 
ticular was much enlarged ; which Lozano explained 
to us from the circumstance that the two breasts did 
not furnish milk in the same abundance. Don 
Vicente Emparan, governor of the province, sent 
a circumstantial account of this phenomenon to 
Cadiz. 

M It is not a very uncommon circumstance,' 1 adds 
the learned Traveller, " to find, both among human- 
kind and animals, males whose breasts contain milk ;" 
and he cites from Aristotle the observation, that men 
who have a small quantity of milk, yield it in abun- 
dance when their breasts are sucked. An inhabitant 
of Syria is mentioned by a medical writer of the 
fifteenth century, who, to calm the uneasiness of 
his child after the death of its mother, pressed it 
to his bosom, on which the milk came in such 
abundance, that he took on himself the nourishment 
of the child. Other examples are related by different 
writers. It has even been mentioned by travellers, 
among the signs of the pretended weakness of the 
Americans, that the men have milk in their breasts, 
which is not more true of any Indian tribe than 
of any European race. Among the lower orders 
in Russia, the circumstance has been observed to be 



COLOMBIA. 



69 



much more frequent than among the more southern 
nations ; and the Russians are not chargeable with 
effeminacy. The labourer of Arenas is not of the 
copper-coloured race of Chayma Indians, but a white, 
descended from Europeans.* 

The town of Cumanacoa is situated in a naked 
plain, nearly circular, surrounded by lofty moun- 
tains, having a dull and melancholy aspect. The 
houses are low and slight, and, with the exception 
of three or four, all built of wood. It was founded in 
1717 by Domingo Arias, and was at first called San 
Baltasar de las Arias, but the Indian name has pre- 
vailed. In 1753, the number of inhabitants did 
not exceed 600 : in 1800, it amounted to 2,300, and 
recent travellers, Humboldt says, carry the population 
as high as 5,000 souls, but, he thinks, on an erroneous 
computation. The plain is not more than 104 toises 
above the level of the sea, and yet the temperature is 
surprisingly low, owing to the proximity of the forests 
and the prevalence of fogs. The thermometer, during 
M. Humboldt's stay, kept at from 14.8° to 16° of 
Reaumur, which, to a traveller coming from the 
coast, has the effect of cold. The port of Cumana 
is only seven nautical leagues from Cumanacoa ; and 
yet, while it scarcely ever rains at the former place, 
the latter has seven months of wintry weather. 
Every night a thick fog covered the sky, and almost 
every day, about two o'clock in the afternoon, large, 
black, and low clouds dissolved in torrents of rain, 
which would continue for two or three hours, during 
which the thermometer would be depressed five or six 

* A similar case is mentioned by Captain Franklin ; that of a 
Chipewyan, who, having lost his wife in child-bed, suckled the 
infant, and succeeded in rearing him.— See Franklin's Joiirnep 
to the Polar Sea> 4to. p. 157. 



70 



COLOMBIA. 



degrees. About five o'clock the rain generally ceased, 
and the sun re-appeared a short time before setting ; 
but, at eight or nine o'clock, the town would be again 
enveloped in a thick stratum of vapours. These 
changes follow successively during whole months, and 
yet, not a breath of wind is felt. The soil is very 
fertile, owing to the extreme humidity of the atmo- 
sphere and the number of rivulets. The most valuable 
production of the district is tobacco, next to that 
of the Isle of Cuba and the Rio Negro, the most 
aromatic that is produced in Spanish America. Here, 
as in Mexico, it was a royal monopoly under the 
colonial administration ; and the cultivation was 
nearly confined, in Caracas, to the valley of Cuman- 
acoa, as, in Mexico, it was permitted only in the two 
districts of Orizaba and Cordoba.* The royal farm 
(esta?ico real de tabaco) was established here in 1779* 
" All the tobacco that is gathered must," says Hum- 
boldt, u be sold to government. Guards scour the 
country to destroy any plantations without the boun- 
daries of the privileged districts, and inform against 
those inhabitants who dare smoke segars prepared by 
their own hands. These guards are for the most part 
Spaniards, and are almost as insolent as those we see 
employed in similar cases in Europe. This insolence 
has not a little contributed to foster the hatred 
between the colonies and the metropolis. The growth 
being now confined to the space of a few square 
leagues, the whole produce of the harvest is only 
6,000 arrobas. Yet, the two provinces of Cumana 
and Barcelona consume 12,000. The deficiency is 
supplied by Spanish Guayana. If the culture were 
free, Cumana might furnish a great part of Europe. M 



* See Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. ii. p. 84, note. 



COLOMBIA, 



71 



Next to tobacco, the most important article of cul- 
tivation is indigo, which often nearly equals that of 
Guatimala. 

Every thing indicates, says the learned Traveller, 
that the valley of Cumanacoa is the bottom of an 
ancient lake. The mountains which then formed its 
shores, are all perpendicular towards the plains, and 
the only cutlet for the waters was on the side of 
Aretas. In digging foundations, beds of round 
pebbles are found, mixed with small bivalve shells; 
and at the bottom of the ravine of San Juanillo, there 
were discovered, about- fifty years ago, two enormous 
femoral bones, (it is supposed, of an extinct species of 
elephant,) which weighed more than thirty pounds. 
On approaching the southern bank of this basin, the 
Turumiquiri, an enormous wall of rocks, the remains 
of an ancient cliff, is seen rising in the midst of 
the forest. Further westward, at the Cerro del Cuchi- 
vanO) the chain of mountains seems broken by the 
effects of an earthquake. There is a crevice, a hun- 
dred and fifty toises in width, surrounded with per- 
pendicular rocks, and filled with trees, through which 
flows a torrent called the Rio Juagua. This crevice 
is called JRisco del Cuchivano ; it is highly pic- 
turesque, and is inhabited by jaguars (felis onca), who 
attain the size of six feet in length. Opposite the 
farm of Bermudez, two spacious caverns open into it, 
from which, at times, flames rush out, that may 
be seen at night from a great distance, illuminating 
the adjacent mountains. This phenomenon is observed 
chiefly during the rainy season. At the time of the 
great earthquake of Cumana, it was accompanied by a 
subterraneous, dull, and long-continued noise; but 
M. Humboldt considers it to be altogether uncon- 
nected with volcanic phenomena. He supposes it to 



72 



COLOMBIA. 



be a column of inflamed hydrogen, produced by the 
decomposition of water on coming in contact with the 
pyrites scattered through the schistous marl which 
composes the rocks, and which, as the smell indicates, 
is both pyritous and bituminous. Near these caverns, 
rock-crystals are found enchased in beds of alpine 
limestone. On the right bank of the river Juagua, is 
an excavation which the natives took for a gold 
mine, owing to the appearance of the sulphurous 
pyrites which are found crystallised and disseminated 
in the marl rock. They are of a very clear golden 
yellow, and as the torrent, which is crossed by the 
marly stratum, washes out metallic grains, the natives 
imagine, from the brillancy of the pyrites, that it 
bears down gold. But M. Humboldt ascertained, that 
they are not auriferous ; they are only mixed with 
fibrous sulphuret of iron and nodules of fetid carbonate 
of lime. " How much time did we lose," he says, 
u during five years' travels, in visiting, at the pressing 
solicitations of our hosts, ravines of which the pyritous 
strata have for ages borne the pompous name of 
Mimas de Oro I How often have we been grieved at 
seeing men of all classes, magistrates, village pastors, 
grave missionaries, grinding, with inexhaustible pa- 
tience, hornblende or yellow mica, in order to extract 
gold from it by means of mercury ! This rage for 
the discovery of mines is the more striking in a cli- 
mate where the soil needs only to be slightly raked, 
to produce abundant harvests." 

The principal place in the Chayma missions, is the 
convent and village of Caripe. The road taken by 
our Travellers, led over the mountains of Cocollar 
and Turumiquiri. After crossing, for three leagues, 
the plain of Cumanacoa, they began to climb the 
acclivity, and continued to ascend for more than four 



COLOMBIA. 



hours, during which they crossed the Pututueuar, a 
rapid torrent, two-and-twenty times. The halo del 
Cocollar, a solitary farm on the summit, is 2,400 
feet above the sea-level, and the nightly tempera- 
ture is seven degrees colder than that of the coast. 
" Nothing can be compared," says Humboldt, " to 
the impression of majestic tranquillity, which the 
aspect of the firmament inspires in this solitary region. 
Following with the eye, at night-fall, those meadows 
that bound the horizon, that plain covered with ver- 
dure and gently undulated, we thought we saw from 
afar, as in the deserts of the Orinoco, the surface of 
the ocean supporting the starry vault of heaven. The 
tree under which we were seated, the luminous insects 
flying in the air, the constellations that shone towards 
the south, — every object seemed to tell us, that we 
were far from our native soil. If, amid this exotic 
nature, the bell of a cow or the roaring of a bull was 
heard from the depth of a valley, the remembrance of 
our country was suddenly awakened by the sound. 
They were like distant voices resounding from beyond 
the ocean, and with magical power transporting us 
from one hemisphere to the other." 

The Cocollar mountains, of which the Turumiquiri 
forms the summit, belong to the same groupe as the 
Brigantine, and were formerly called Sierra de los 
Tageres. The round summit, covered with turf, is 
707 toises above the ocean. A ridge of steep rocks 
extends toward the west, broken, at the distance of 
a mile, by an enormous crevice, or ravine, that de- 
scends toward the Gulf of Cariaco. At the point 
where the ridge should recommence, two calcareous 
peaks shoot up, the northernmost of which, the Cu- 
curucko de Turumiquiri^ is upwards of 1,050 toises 
high. From the round summit, chains of mountain^ 

PAHT T. F 



74 



COLOMBIA. 



are seen extending to the ocean, in parallel lines from 
east to west, enclosing longitudinal valleys, which, 
being intersected by small ravines formed by the tor- 
rents, give to the mountains the appearance of rows of 
paps and cones. The ground is a gentle slope as far as 
the Imposible: further on, the precipices become bold. 
The form of this mass of mountains reminded Hum- 
boldt of the Jura chain. The valley of Cumanacoa is 
the only plain that presents itself. Towards the 
north, the peninsula of Araya forms a dark stripe on 
the sea, beyond which the black rocks of Cape Ma- 
canao, rising amid the waters like a strong bastion, 
bound the horizon. 

After resting for three days at the farm of Cocollar, 
M. Humboldt prosecuted his journey ; and after passing 
two ridges of mountains extremely steep, called Los 
Yepes and Fantasma, arrived at a beautiful valley 
five or six leagues in length, in which are situated 
the missions of San Antonio and Guanaguana. The 
former is celebrated on account of a small church with 
two towers, built of brick in a tolerable style, and 
ornamented with Doric columns, " the wonder of the 
country." The prefect of the Capuchins completed the 
building in two summers, though he employed only 
the Indians of the village. The mouldings, cornices, 
and frieze are executed in clay mixed with pounded 
brick. The governor of the province, however, dis- 
approved of the luxury of such constructions in the 
missions, and the further embellishment of the church 
was suspended ! Guanaguana had as yet no church, 
though it had existed on this spot about thirty years, 
the missionary wisely insisting, that the missionary's 
house was the first thing to be attended to, the church 
the second, and the clothing of the Indians the third. 
The latter, who much prefer to be unencumbered 



COLOMBIA. 



75 



with clothes, are in no hurry that their turn should 
come. The spacious abode of the padre had just been 
finished, and, to the surprise of the travellers, the 
terrace roof was ornamented with a great number of 
chimneys that looked like turrets. This was done, 
their host told them, to remind him, amid the heats 
of the torrid zone, of the winters of his native Arra» 
gon. The Indians cultivate cotton, partly for their 
own benefit, and partly for that of the church and the 
'padre. But here, as every where else where the benefi- 
cence of nature lessens the stimulus to industry, so small 
a portion of land has been cleared for the cultivation 
of alimentary plants, that the inhabitants are exposed 
to a scarcity in seasons of drought. The preceding 
year, they had for three months been al monte ; that 
is, wandering in the neighbouring forests, living on 
palm -cabbages, fern -roots, succulent plants, and wild 
fruits. They did not speak of this as a state of pri- 
vation ; the missionary alone had felt the inconve- 
nience, the village having been deserted, and his 
flock, on their return from the forests, were not quite 
so docile as before. Near the village of Punzeca, the 
Travellers noticed small bags formed of a tissue of 
silk, suspended from the branches of the lowest trees, 
—the seda silvestre (wild silk) of the country : it is of 
a beautiful lustre, but very rough. A ridge or dyke 
of calcareous rock, called the Cuchilla de Guanaguana, 
separates the valley from that of Caripe. The road 
over it is difficult, the path only fourteen or fifteen 
inches broad, and the ridge along which it runs, is 
covered with a short turf extremely slippery ; but, as 
the flanks of the mountain are not precipitous, though 
steep, the traveller, should his mule stumble, would 
only have a slide down the grass declivity to the depth 
of 7 or 800 feet. The highest point of the Cuchilla 



76 



COLOMBIA. 



is 548 toises above the sea, being 329 above the house 
of the padre at Guanaguana. Descending from the 
ridge by a winding path, the traveller enters on a 
tract covered with thick forest ; and the geological 
aspect of the country changes from the Alpine forma- 
tion to the Jura limestone. The calcareous strata, 
becoming thinner, form graduated steps, which stretch 
out like walls, cornices, and turrets. The valley of 
Caripe is 200 toises higher than that of Guanaguana, 
and the climate is of a delicious coolness : it is the 
only one of the high valleys of New Andalusia that is 
well inhabited. An alley of perseas leads to the 
Capuchin hospicio. It is difficult, Humboldt says, to 
imagine a more picturesque spot. " The convent is 
backed by an enormous wall of perpendicular rock, 
covered with thick vegetation. The stone, of re- 
splendent whiteness, appears only here and there 
through the foliage. It recalled forcibly to my remem- 
brance the valleys of Derbyshire, and the cavernous 
mountains of Muggendorf in Franconia. Instead of 
the beech and the maple of Europe, are seen the 
prouder forms of the ceiba and the praga and irasse 
palm-trees. Numberless springs gush out from the 
sides of the rocks which encircle the valley, the abrupt 
slopes of which present toward the south, profiles a 
thousand feet in height. These springs arise for the 
most part from a few narrow crevices. The humidity 
which they spread around, favours the growth of the 
great trees. Plantains and papaw-trees surround tufts 
of arborescent fern, and the natives, who love solitary 
places, form their conucos (plantations) along the 
sides of the crevices. The mixture of wild and cul- 
tivated plants gives the place a peculiar charm. The 
springs are distinguished from afar, on the naked 
flanks of the mountain, by the tufted masses of vege- 



COLOMBIA. 



77 



tation, which at first seem suspended from the rocks, 
and, descending the valley, follow the sinuosities of 
the torrent." The convent is founded on a spot an- 
ciently called Areocuar. Its height above the sea- 
level is nearly the same as that of the city of Caracas 
and of the inhabited part of the Blue Mountains of 
Jamaica. The mean temperatures of these three 
points is nearly the same. That of the valley of 
Caripe is about 18*5° of the centigrade thermometer, 
the temperature of September, in which month Hum- 
boldt was there, differing scarcely half a degree from 
that of the whole year: this is equal to that of June at 
Paris. The climate has been found particularly 
favourable to the cultivation of the coffee-plant. The 
conuco of the community, which presented the appear- 
ance of an extensive and beautiful garden, contained^ 
besides many culinary plants, maize, and some sugar- 
canes, five thousand coffee-trees, which promised an 
abundant harvest. The natives are obliged to work 
in it every morning from six to ten, under the inspec- 
tion of Indian alcaldes and alguazils. The produce 
is sold by the guardian, and the proceeds are distri- 
buted among the people. Humboldt found a numerous 
society here, consisting of some young monks just 
arrived from Spain, who appear to have been sent here 
to be seasoned to the climate, and several infirm mis- 
sionaries who had come to seek for health in the fresh 
and salubrious air of the mountains of Caripe. In 
the cell of the superior was a pretty good collection of 
books, among which, near the Teatro Critico of Feijo, 
and the Lettres Edifiantes, our Traveller was sur- 
prised to find the Traite d'Electricite of the Abbe 
Nollet ; and the youngest of the monks last arrived, 
had brought with him, to study in his retirement, 
a Spanish translation of Chaptal's Chemistry. The 



78 



COLOMBIA. 



monks were not ignorant that their visiter was a 
native of a Protestant country, but they betrayed no 
signs of intolerance. 

" What gives most celebrity to the valley of 
Caripe," says the learned Traveller, " is the great 
cavern of Gruacharo. In a country where the love of 
the marvellous prevails, a cavern that gives birth to a 
river, and is inhabited by thousands of nocturnal 
birds, the fat of which is employed by the missionaries 
to dress food, is an everlasting subject of conversation. 
The cavern, which the natives call a mine of fat, 
is not in the valley itself, but at three short leagues' 
distance from the convent, toward the W.S.W. It 
opens into a lateral valley, which terminates at the 
Sierra del Guacharo. We set out toward the Sierra 
on the 18th of September, accompanied by the alcaids, 
or Indian magistrates, and the greater part of the 
monks of the convent. A narrow path led us at 
first during an hour and a half toward the south, 
across a fine plain, covered with a beautiful turf. We 
then turned toward the west, along a small river, 
which issues from the mouth of the cavern. We 
ascended during three quarters of an hour, walking 
sometimes in the water, which was shallow, some- 
times between the torrent and a wall of rocks, on 
a soil extremely slippery and miry. The falling down 
of the earth, the scattered trunks of trees over which 
the mules could scarcely pass, the creeping plants 
that covered the ground, rendered this part of the 
road fatiguing. 

u At the foot of the lofty mountain of Guacharo, 
we were only four hundred steps from the cavern, 
without yet perceiving the entrance. The torrent 
runs in a crevice, which has been hollowed out by the 
waters ; and we went on under a cornice, the pro- 



COLOMBIA. 



79 



jection of which prevented us from seeing the sky. 
The path winds like the river: at the last turning 
we came suddenly before the immense opening of the 
grotto. The aspect of this spot is majestic even to 
the eye of a traveller accustomed to the picturesque 
scenes of the higher Alps. I had before this seen the 
caverns of the Peak of Derbyshire, where, extended 
in a boat, we traversed a subterranean river, under 
a vault two feet high. I had visited the beautiful 
grotto of Treshemienshiz, in the Carpathian moun- 
tains, the caverns of the Hartz, and those of 
Franconia, which are vast cemeteries of bones of 
tigers, hyenas, and bears, as large as our horses. 
Nature in every zone follows immutable laws in the 
distribution of rocks, in the exterior form of moun- 
tains, and even in those tumultuous changes which 
the exterior crust of our planet has undergone. So 
great a uniformity led me to believe, that the aspect 
of the cavern of Caripe would differ little from what I 
had observed in my preceding travels. The reality 
far exceeded my expectations. If the configuration 
of the grottoes, the splendour of the stalactites, and 
all the phenomena of inorganic nature, present 
striking analogies, the majesty of equinoctial vegeta- 
tion gives at the same time an individual character to 
the aperture of the cavern. 

" The Cueva del Guacharo is pierced in the ver- 
tical profile of a rock. The entrance is toward the 
south, and forms a vault eighty feet broad and 
seventy -two feet high. This elevation is but a fifth 
less than that of the colonnade of the Louvre. The 
rock that surmounts the grotto is covered with trees 
of gigantic height. The mammee-tree, and the 
genipa with large and shining leaves, raise their 
branches vertically toward the sky ; while those of 



so 



COLOMBIA. 



the courbaril and the erythrina form, as they extend 
themselves, a thick vault of verdure. Plants of the 
family of pothos with succulent stems, oxalises, and 
orchideae of a singular structure, rise in the driest 
clefts of the rocks ; while creeping plants, waving in 
the winds, are interwoven in festoons before the 
opening of the cavern. We distinguished in these 
festoons a bignonia of a violet blue, the purple 
dolichos, and, for the first time, that magnificent 
solandra, the orange flower of which has a fleshy 
tube more than four inches long. The entrances of 
grottoes, like the view of cascades, derive their prin- 
cipal charm from the situation, more or less majestic, 
in which they are placed, and which in some sort 
determines the character of the landscape. What 
a contrast between the Cueva of Caripe, and those 
caverns of the North, crowned with oaks and gloomy 
larch -trees ! 

" But this luxury of vegetation embellishes not 
only the outside of the vault, it appears even in the 
vestibule of the grotto. We saw with astonishment 
plantain-leaved heliconias eighteen feet high, the 
praga palm-tree, and arborescent arums, follow the 
banks of the river, even to those subterranean 
places. The vegetation continues in the cave of 
Caripe, as in those deep crevices of the Andes, half 
excluded from the light of day ; and does not dis- 
appear till, advancing in the interior, we reach thirty 
or forty paces from the entrance. W e measured the 
way by means of a cord ; and we went on about 430 
feet without being obliged to light our torches. 
Daylight penetrates even into this region, because 
the grotto forms but one single channel, which keeps 
the same direction, from south-east to north-west. 
Where the light begins to fail, we heard from afar the 



COLOMBIA. 



81 



hoarse sounds of the nocturnal birds ; sounds which, 
the natives think, belong exclusively to those subter- 
raneous places." 

The guacharo, which M. Lavaysse describes as a 
new species of caprimulgus, is of the size of a fowl, has 
the mouth of the goatsucker, but differs very speci- 
fically in the strength of its beak, which contains 
a double tooth, its force of voice, and its feet, which 
are without the membranes that unite the anterior 
phalanxes. Its plumage is of a dark -bluish gray, with 
small streaks and specks of black. Large heart- 
shaped white spots, bordered with black, mark the 
head, wings, and tail. Its eyes, which are blue and 
smaller than those of the goatsucker, are hurt by the 
blaze of day. The spread of the wings is three feet 
and a half. It is the only instance of a nocturnal 
bird among the genus passeres dentirostrati, and 
almost the only fragiferous nocturnal bird that is 
known. The conformation of its feet indicates that 
it does not hunt like our owls. Like the nut -cracker 
(corvus caryocatactes) and alpine crow (corvus pyrrho- 
corax),* it feeds on very hard fruits, and is not 
known to pursue insects. It quits the cavern at 
night-fall, especially when the moon shines. " It is 
difficult,' 9 Humboldt says, 66 to form an idea of the 
horrible noise occasioned by thousands of these birds 
in the dark part of the cavern ; it can only be com- 
pared to the croaking of our crows, which, in the pine 
forests of the north, live in society, and construct 
their nests upon trees, the tops of which touch each 

* The alpine crow nestles, in like manner, in clefts of rocks, 
and is known under the name of the night crow. It builds its 
nest toward the top of Mount Libanus, in subterranean caverns, 
nearly like the guacharo, and has much the same horribly shrill 

v-wice^ _ ~ 

v <2 



82 



COLOMBIA. 



other. The shrill and piercing cries of the guacharoes 
strike upon the vaults of the rocks, and are repeated 
by the echo in the depth of the cavern. The Indians 
shewed us the nests of these birds, by fixing torches 
to the end of a long pole. These nests were fifty or 
sixty feet high above our heads, in holes in the shape 
of funnels, with which the roof of the grotto is pierced 
like a sieve. The noise increased as we advanced, 
and the birds were affrighted by the light of the 
torches of copal. When this noise ceased a few 
minutes around us, we heard at a distance the plain- 
tive cries of the birds roosting in other ramifications 
of the cavern. It seemed as if these bands answered 
each other alternately. 

" The Indians enter into the Cueva del Guacharo 
once a year, near midsummer, armed with poles, by 
means of which they destroy the greater part of the 
nests. At this season several thousands of birds are 
killed ; and the old ones, as if to defend their brood, 
hover over the heads of the Indians, uttering terrible 
cries. The young which fall to the ground are opened 
on the spot. Their peritoneum is found extremely 
loaded with fat, a layer of which forms a kind of 
cushion between the legs. At the period called at 
Caripe the oil harvest, the Indians build huts with 
palm -leaves near the entrance and in the porch of the 
cavern. There, with a fire of brush-wood, they melt 
in pots of clay the fat of the young birds just killed. 
It is half liquid, transparent, inodorous, and so pure 
that it may be kept more than a year without becom- 
ing rancid. At the convent of Caripe, no other oil is 
used in the kitchen ; and we never observed that 
it gave the food a disagreeable taste or smell. The 
quantity collected little corresponds to the carnage 
made every year in the grotto by the Indians. It 



COLOMBIA. 



83 



appears that they do not obtain above 150 or 160 
bottles of very pure manteca (lard) ; the rest, less 
transparent, is preserved in large earthen vessels.* 
At Caripe, the use of the oil of guacharoes is very 
ancient, and the missionaries have only regulated the 
method of extracting it. In conformity to their 
system, the Indians are obliged to furnish guacharo- 
oil for the church lamp : the rest, we were assured, 
is purchased of them. The race of the guacharoes 
would long ago have been extinct, had not several 
circumstances contributed to its preservation. The 
natives, restrained by their superstitious ideas, have 
seldom the courage to penetrate far into the grotto. 
It appears, also, that birds of the same species dwell in 
neighbouring caverns, which are too narrow to be 
accessible to man. Perhaps the great cavern is 
repeopled by colonies that abandon the small grot- 
toes ; for the missionaries assured us, that hitherto 
no sensible diminution of the birds had been observed. 
Young guacharoes have been sent to the port of 
Cumana, and have lived there several days without 
tailing any nourishment ; the seeds offered to them 
not suiting their taste. When the crops and gizzards 
of the young birds are opened in the cavern, they are 
found to contain all sorts of hard and dry fruits, which 
furnish, under the singular name of guacharo seed 
(semilla del guacharo) , a very celebrated remedy against 
intermittent fevers. The old birds carry these seeds 
to their young. They are carefully collected and 
sent to the sick at Cariaco, and other places of the low 
regions, where fevers are prevalent. 
" We followed, as we continued our progress 

* In Carolina, some thousands of barrels of pigeons' oil were 
formerly collected, obtained from the columba migratoria. 



84 



COLOMBIA. 



through the cavern, the banks of the small river 
which issues from it, and which is from twenty -eight 
to thirty feet wide. We walked on the banks as far 
as the hills, formed of calcareous incrustations, per- 
mitted us. When the torrent winds among very high 
masses of stalactites, we were often obliged to descend 
into its bed, which is only two feet in depth. We learned 
with surprise, that this subterraneous rivulet is the 
origin of the River Caripe, which, at a few leagues* 
distance, after having joined the small river of Santa 
Maria, is navigable for canoes. It enters into the River 
Areo under the name of Canno de Terezen. We found 
on the banks of the subterraneous rivulet, a great quan* 
tity of palm-tree wood, the remains of trunks, on 
which the Indians climb to reach the nests hanging to 
the roofs of the cavern. The rings formed by the 
vestiges of the old footstalks of the leaves, furnish, as 
it were, the steps of a ladder perpendicularly placed. 

" The grotto of Caripe preserves the same direc- 
tion, the same breadth, and its original height of 
sixty or seventy feet, to the distance of 472 metres, or 
1,458 feet, accurately measured. I have never seen a 
cavern, in either continent, of so uniform and regular 
a construction. W e had great difficulty in persuading 
the Indians to pass beyond the outer part of the 
grotto, the only part which they annually visit to 
collect the fat. The whole authority of los padres 
was necessary to induce them to advance as far as the 
spot where the soil rises abruptly at an inclination 
of sixty degrees, and where the torrent forms a small 
subterraneous cascade. The natives connect mystic 
ideas with this cave inhabited by nocturnal birds ; 
they believe that the souls of their ancestors sojourn 
in the deep recesses of the cavern. c Man,' say 
they, 6 should avoid places which are enlightened 



COLOMBIA. 



85 



neither by the sun (zis), nor by the moon {nund)J* 
To go and join the guacharoes, is to rejoin their 
fathers, that is, to die. The magicians (piaches) and 
the poisoners (imorons) perform their nocturnal tricks 
at the entrance of the cavern, to conjure the chief 
of the evil spirits (ivorokiamo). Thus, in every 
climate, the first fictions of nations resemble each 
other, those especially which relate to two principles 
governing the world, the abode of souls after death, 
the happiness of the virtuous, and the punishment 
of the guilty. The most different and most barbarous 
languages present a certain number of images which 
are the same, because they have their source in the 
nature of our intellect and our sensations. Darkness 
is every where connected with the idea of death. 
The grotto of Caripe answers to the Tartarus of the 
Greeks ; and the guacharoes which hover over the 
rivulet, uttering plaintive cries, remind us of the 
Stygian birds. 

" At the point where the river forms the sub- 
terraneous cascade, a hill covered with vegetation, 
which is opposite the opening of the grotto, presents 
itself in a very picturesque manner. It appears at 
the extremity of a straight passage, 240 toises in 
length. The stalactites which descend from the 
vault, and which resemble columns suspended in the 
air, display themselves on a back -ground of verdure. 
The opening of the cavern appeared singularly con- 
tracted when we saw it about the middle of the day, 
illumined by the vivid light reflected at once from the 
sky, the plants, and the rocks. The distant light 
of day formed a somewhat magical contrast with the 
darkness that surrounded us in those vast caverns. 
We discharged our pieces at a venture wherever the 
cries of the nocturnal birds and the flapping of their 



86 



COLOMBIA. 



wings, led us to suspect that a great number of nests 
were crowded together. After several fruitless 
attempts, Mr. Bonpland succeeded in killing a couple 
of guacharoes, which, dazzled by the light of the 
torches, seemed to pursue us. This circumstance 
afforded me the means of drawing this bird, which 
hitherto had remained unknown to naturalists. We 
climbed, not without some difficulty, the small hill 
whence the subterraneous rivulet descends. We saw 
that the grotto was perceptibly contracted, retaining 
only forty feet in height ; and that it continued 
stretching to the north-east without deviating from 
its first direction, which is parallel to that of the great 
valley of Caripe. 

" In this part of the cavern, the rivulet deposes 
a blackish mould, very like the matter which, in the 
grotto of Muggendorf in Franconia, is called the earth 
of sacrifice. We could not discover whether this fine 
and spongy mould falls through the cracks which com- 
municate with the surface of the ground above, or is 
washed down by the rain-water that penetrates into 
the cavern. It was a mixture of silex, alumine, and 
vegetable' detritus. We walked in thick mud to a 
spot where we beheld with astonishment the progress 
of subterraneous vegetation. The seeds which the 
birds carry into the grotto to feed their young, spring 
up wherever they can fix in the mould that covers the 
calcareous incrustations. Blanched stalks, with some 
half -formed leaves, had risen to the height of two 
feet. It was impossible to ascertain the species of 
plants, the form, colour, and aspect of which had 
been changed by the absence of light. These traces 
of organisation amid darkness forcibly excited the 
curiosity of the natives, in general so stupid and diffi- 
cult to be moved. They examined them in that 



COLOMBIA. 



silent meditation inspired by a place they seemed to 
dread. It might be thought, that these subterraneous 
vegetables, pale and disfigured, appeared to them 
phantoms banished from the face of the earth. To 
me, the scene recalled one of the happiest periods of my 
early youth, a long abode in the mines of Freiburg, 
where I made experiments on the effects of blanching 
(etiolement)^ which are very different according as 
the air is pure or overcharged with hydrogen or azote. 

" The missionaries, with all their authority, could 
not prevail on the Indians to penetrate further into 
the cavern. As the vault grew lower, the cries of the 
guacharoes became more shrill. We were obliged to 
yield to the pusillanimity of our guides, and trace 
back our steps. The appearance of the cavern was 
indeed very uniform. We find that a bishop of 
St. Thomas of Guyana had gone further than our- 
selves. He had measured nearly 2,500 feet from the 
mouth to the spot where he stopped, though the 
cavern reached further. The remembrance of this 
fact was preserved in the convent of Caripe, without 
the exact period being noted. The bishop had pro- 
vided himself with great torches of white wax of 
Castile. We had torches composed only of the bark 
of trees and native resin. The thick smoke which 
issues from these torches in a narrow subterranean 
passage, hurts the eyes and obstructs the respiration. 
• " We followed the course of the torrent to go out 
of the cavern. Before our eyes were dazzled by the 
light of day, we saw, without the grotto, the water of 
the river sparkling amid the foliage of the trees that 
concealed it. It was like a picture placed in the dis- 
tance, and to which the mouth of the cavern served as 
a frame. Having at length reached the entrance, 
and seated ourselves on the bank of the rivulet, we 



8S 



COLOMBIA. 



rested after our fatigues. We were glad to be beyond 
the hoarse cries of the birds, and to leave a place 
where darkness does not offer even the charm of 
silence and tranquillity. We could scarcely persuade 
ourselves that the name of the grotto of Caripe 
had hitherto remained unknown in Europe. The 
guaeharoes alone would have been sufficient to render 
it celebrated. These nocturnal birds have been no 
where yet discovered, except in the mountains of 
Caripe and Cumanacoa. 

" The missionaries had prepared a repast at the 
entry of the cavern. Leaves of bananas and vijao, 
which have a silky lustre, served us as a table-cloth, 
according to the custom of the country. Nothing was 
wanting to our enjoyment, not even remembrances, 
which are so rare in those countries^ where genera- 
tions disappear without leaving a trace of their exist- 
ence. Our hosts took pleasure in reminding us, that 
the first monks who came into those mountains to 
found the little village of Santa Maria, had lived 
during a month in the cavern, and there, on a stone, 
by the light of torches, had celebrated the mysteries of 
religion. This solitary retreat served as a refuge to 
the missionaries against the persecutions of a warlike 
chief of the Tuacopans, encamped on the banks of the 
River Caripe." 

The origin of caverns is an interesting geological 
question. The learned Traveller is of opinion, that 
their formation must be referred to causes totally 
different. With regard, however, to the largest and 
most remarkable class, those which are found in the 
limestone and gypseous formations, the horizontal 
direction of the galleries, and their gentle and uniform 
slope, obviously indicate that they are the result of 
the action of water, gradually enlarging, by erosion, 



COLOMBIA. 



89 



clefts already existing, and carrying off the softer 
parts. In the primitive rocks, real grottoes are found 
only in the calcareous formations. On examining the 
internal structure of the stalactites, we find all the 
characters of a chemical precipitate. A small quantity 
of carbonic acid is proved to be sufficient to give 
to water, after long contact, the power of dissolving 
some portion of carbonate of lime. The Jura lime- 
stone, Humboldt remarks, to which the grottoes of 
the valley of Caripe belong, abounds so much with 
caverns in both hemispheres, that it has been called 
by some German geologists hcehlenkalk stein, cavern- 
limestone. It is this rock which so often interrupts 
the course of rivers, by ingulfing them into its bosom. 
The form of grottoes depends partly on the nature of 
the rocks, partly on the exterior agency which has 
produced them. u From what I have seen," says 
Humboldt, " in the mountains of Europe and the 
cordilleras of America, caverns may be divided, 
according to their interior structure, into three 
classes. Some have the form of large clefts, or 
crevices, like veins not filled with ore ; such as the 
cavern of Rosenmuller in Franconia, Elden-hole in 
the Peak of Derbyshire, and the sumideros (sewers) 
of Chamacasapa, near Tasco and Tehuilotepec in 
Mexico.* Other caverns are open to the light at both 
ends ; these are rocks really pierced through, — natural 
galleries, traversing a solitary mountain : such are 
the Hole-berg of Muggendorf, and the famous cavern 
of Danto in Mexico.-)- A third form, and the most 
common, exhibits a succession of cavities placed nearly 
on the same level, in the same direction, and com- 
municating with each other by passages of greater 

* See Mod. Trav. Mexico, vol. i. p. 357, 
t See ibid. p. 355, and 357, note, 



00 



COLOMBIA. 



or less breadth."* What in the calcareous rocks is 
produced by the action of the waters, appears to be, in 
the volcanic rocks, the effect of gaseous emanations, 
acting in the direction in which they find the least 
resistance. Sometimes, fire acts like water in carry- 
ing off substances ; as a cavern in the Isle of France 
is supposed by Captain Flinders to have originated in 
the melting of a mass of glance -iron by a volcanic 
eruption. The caverns in the mountains of gypsum 
often contain mephitic and deleterious gases. It is 
not, in this case, Humboldt says, the sulphate of lime 
that acts on the atmospheric air, but the clay slightly 
impregnated with carbon, and the fetid limestone, which 
are so often mingled with the gypsum. The caverns 
of the calcareous mountains are not liable to these 
decompositions of the atmospheric air, unless they 
contain animal remains. None have hitherto been 
discovered in that of Caripe. These general re- 
marks are highly interesting, and will be found 
of no small use to future travellers. The cavern 
of Caripe is one of the most spacious that is known in 
limestone formations, being at least 2,800 feet in 
length. Some grottoes in Saxony, however, which 
are found in gypsum, are several leagues in length. 
The calcareous grottoes are more beautiful and richer 
in stalactites, in proportion as they are narrower and 
the circulation of air is less free. On this account, 
the cavern of Caripe is almost destitute of those 
incrustations, the imitative forms of " which excite the 
curiosity of the vulgar. The light of day and the air 
of heaven are fatal to the spells of superstition. 

On leaving Caripe, where the travellers remained 

* See, for a description of the remarkable cavern of Mixco, 
Mod. Trav. Mexico, vol. ii. p. 253. See also, ibid. pp. 267, 2G8> and 
300. Also, Syria and Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. 39, 53, 72, 309. 



COLOMBIA. 



91 



for some days, after crossing a ridge of hills to the 
north-east, they ascended through a vast savanna to 
the table-land of Guardia de San Augustin, the most 
elevated valley, probably, in Venezuela, yet totally 
uninhabited. From this high land, the road descends 
by a slope extremely steep and slippery, called by the 
monks, Baxada del Purgatorio, and soon enters a 
thick forest, known by the name of Montana de Santa 
Maria. Humboldt describes the descent as most 
tremendous, — a real chemin des echelles (road of 
ladders), through a sort of ravine, down which, in the 
rainy season, impetuous torrents tumble from rock to 
rock. " The steps are from two to three feet high, 
and the unfortunate beasts of burden, after having 
measured with their eye the space necessary to let 
their load pass between the trunks of the trees, leap 
from one rock to another. Afraid of missing their 
leap, we saw them stop a few minutes to examine the 
ground, and bring together their four feet like wild 
goats. If the animal does not reach the nearest block 
of stone, he sinks half his depth into the soft ochrey 
clay that fills up the interstices of the rock. When 
the blocks are wanting, enormous roots serve as 
supports to the feet of men and beasts. There are 
some of them twenty inches thick ; and they often issue 
from the trunks of the trees much above the level 
of the soil. The Creoles have sufficient confidence in 
the address and happy instinct of the mules, to remain 
on their saddles during this long and dangerous 
descent. Fearing fatigue less than they v did, and 
accustomed to travel slowly in order to gather plants 
and examine the nature of the rocks, we preferred 
going down on foot ; and, indeed, the care which our 
timekeepers demanded, left us no liberty of choice. 
" The forest that covers the steep flank of the 



92 



COLOMBIA. 



mountain of Santa Maria, is one of the thickest I ever 
saw. The trees are of a stupendous height and size. 
Under their bushy, deep green foliage, there reigns 
constantly a kind of half-daylight, a sort of obscurity, 
of which our forests of pines, oaks, and beech-trees, 
afford no example. It might be said, that, notwith- 
standing its elevated temperature, the air cannot dis- 
solve the quantity of water exhaled from the surface of 
the soil, the foliage of the trees, and their trunks 
covered with an old drapery of orchideaB, peperomia, 
and other succulent plants. With the aromatic odour 
yielded by the flowers, the fruits, and even by the 
wood, is mingled that which we perceive in autumn 
in foggy seasons. Here, as in the forests of the 
Orinoco, fixing our eyes on the tops of the trees, we 
now discerned streams of vapour, whenever a solar 
ray penetrated and traversed the dense atmo- 
sphere." 

Among the majestic trees of the forest, many of 
which are upwards of 120 feet in height, are seen the 
curucay, which yields a whitish resin, highly odori- 
ferous, and miich in request among the Indian sor- 
cerers ; the dragon's-blood-tree (croton sangwjiuum)^ 
the purplish-brown juice of which flows down a whitish 
bark ; arborescent ferns upwards of thirty-five feet 
high ; and various species of palm-tree. The road 
was an uninterrupted descent for seven hours. The 
forest terminates in a large savanna, composed of 
several smooth flats rising one above another, in the 
midst of which is the mission of Santa Cruz, where 
the Travellers halted for the night, overcome with 
fatigue, having travelled nearly eight hours without 
finding water. The next day, passing through an- 
other thick forest, they reached the mission of Catuaro. 
The day following, accompanied by the missionary in 



COLOMBIA* 



93 



person, they descended the mountains by another 
ladder road extremely rugged and slippery, to Cariaco. 

The town of Cariaco stands in the midst of a vast 
plain filled with plantations, scattered huts, and 
groupes of cocoa-palms, at the distance of a mile and 
a half from the river of the same name. In the 
Spanish official papers, it bears the name of San Felipe 
de Austria, In former times, it has been repeatedly 
sacked by the Caribs, but of late years it has aug- 
mented rapidly in population and importance. The 
number of inhabitants in 1800, was upwards of 6,000, 
having doubled within ten years ; and in 1807, it had 
risen, according to M. Lavaysse, to 7,000, while 4,000 
more inhabited the rest of the district. The cotton 
which is cultivated here, is of a very fine quality ; 
there are also sugar and coffee plantations, which, 
being found more profitable, have superseded the cul- 
tivation of the cocoa-tree. " In 1807, the governor, 
Manoel de Cagigal, endeavoured to prevent the dis- 
tillation of rum, under the false pretence that it would 
injure the trade in brandies with Spain ; but the true 
reason was, that the rum trade, one of the branches 
of the English smuggling, brought large profits to his 
Excellency."* Since the Island of 'Trinidad has be- 
come an English colony, the whole of the eastern ex- 
tremity of this province, especially the coast of Paria, 
has changed its appearance, owing chiefly to the en- 
terprise of foreign settlers. The population has espe- 
cially increased at Carupano in the beautiful valley 
of Rio Caripe, at Guiria, and at the new town of 
Punta de Piedra, built opposite Spanish Harbour in 
the Isle of Trinidad. The latter place, which, in 
1797, was only a hamlet of fishermen, is now the 



» Lavaysse, p. 110. 



94 



COLOMBIA. 



chief place in the district, and, from its advantageous 
position near the mouths of the Guarapiche and Ori- 
noco, as well as the prodigious fertility of the territory, 
is an important spot. Carupano, which is not even 
mentioned by M. Depons, is described by M. Lavaysse 
as a very healthy place, built in the opening of two 
charming valleys watered by two fine rivers. The 
port is defended by a battery placed on an eminence. 
With the neighbouring district, it contained in 1807 
a population of 8,000 souls. " The inhabitants," 
says M. Lavaysse, " divide their time between the 
occupations of agriculture, trading concerns, and 
dancing : it is completely a dancing town. There is 
a considerable trade there in horses and mules. At 
the foot of the neighbouring hills, there are quarries of 
gypsum, so that most of the houses are ceiled. In 
going by land from Carupano to Guiria and the Punta 
de Piedra, the smiling valley of Rio Caribe is crossed, 
watered by numerous rivulets : it is the Tempe and 
Campagna of this country. The town and valley of 
Caribe (Caripe) have a population of 4,500 persons.'"* 
" The isolated situation of these settlements," re- 
marks M. Humboldt, " has favoured the trade with 
foreign colonies ; and from the year 1 797, a revolution 
has taken place in the ideas of the people, the conse- 
quences of which might have been long- in proving 
fatal to the metropolis, had not the ministry continued 
to thwart all their interests and oppose all their 
wishes. We found at Cariaco, a great number of 
persons who, by a certain ease in their manners, en- 
largement of ideas, and, I must add, a marked predi- 
lection for the government of the United States, dis- 
covered that they held frequent inter course with 



* Lavaysse, pp. 114, 15. 



COLOMBIA. 95 

foreigners. There, for the first time in these climates, 
we heard the names of Franklin and Washington pro- 
nounced with enthusiasm. The expressions of this 
enthusiasm were mingled with complaints relative to 
the actual state of New Andalusia, with the enume- 
ration, often an exaggerated one, of its natural riches, 
and ardent and anxious wishes that happier times 
might arrive. This disposition of mind was striking 
to a traveller who had just witnessed the great agita- 
tions of Europe. It foreboded, as yet, nothing hostile 
and violent, no determinate direction. There was 
that degree of vagueness in the ideas and expressions, 
which characterises in nations, as in individuals, a 
state of half-cultivation, an immature display of civi- 
lisation." * 

The movement towards independence which had 
nearly broken out at Caracas in 1798, had been preceded 
and followed by great agitation among the slaves at 
Coro, Maracaybo, and Cariaco. The vicar of Catuaro, 
who had insisted on conducting the Travellers to the 
coast, had for his errand, to offer his ghostly assistance 
to an unfortunate negro at Cariaco under sentence of 
death. On the road, he dilated on the necessity of the 
slave-trade, the innate wickedness of the blacks, and the 
benefit they derive from their state of slavery among 
Christians ! ! " The mildness of the Spanish legis- 
lation," remarks M. Humboldt, " compared with the 
Black Code of the greater part of the other nations that 
have possessions in either India, cannot be denied. 
But, such is the state of the negroes dispersed in 
places scarcely begun to be cultivated, that justice, 
far from efficaciously protecting them during their 
lives, cannot even punish acts of barbarity that have 



* Humboldt, Pers. Nar. vol. iii. pp. 196, 7« 



96 



COLOMBIA. 



caused their death. If an inquiry be attempted, the 
death of the slave is attributed to the bad state of his 
health, to the influence of a warm and humid climate, 
to the wounds which he has received, but which, it is 
asserted, were neither deep nor dangerous. The civil 
authority is powerless with respect to whatever con- 
stitutes domestic slavery ; and nothing is more illu- 
sory than the effect so much vaunted of those laws 
which prescribe the form of the whip, and the number 
of lashes which it is permitted to give at a time. Per- 
sons who have not lived in the colonies, or have in- 
habited only the West India Islands, believe in general, 
that the interest of the master in the preservation of 
his slaves, must render their condition so much the 
milder as their number is less considerable. Never- 
theless, even at Cariaco, a few weeks before my arri- 
val in the province, a planter, who had only eight 
negroes, killed six by beating them in the most bar- 
barous manner. He thus voluntarily destroyed the 
greater part of his fortune. Two of his slaves ex- 
pired on the spot. He embarked with four, who 
seemed more robust, for the Port of Cumana, but 
they died on the passage. This act of cruelty had 
been preceded in the same year by another, the cir- 
cumstances of which are equally horrible. Such great 
crimes remain almo&t always unpunished : the spirit 
that dictated the laws, is not that which presides over 
their execution." 

M. Humboldt and his companion were prevented 
making any stay at Cariaco by the unhealthiness of 
the season. They found a great part of th? inhabi- 
tants confined to their hammocks with intermittent 
fevers. These fevers in autumn assume a formidable 
character, and run into alarming dysenteries. The 
mortality at such seasons is less considerable^ however. 



COLOMBIA. 



07 



we are told, than might be supposed. The epidemic 
weakens the constitution, and leaves a great degree of 
debility, but this does not often issue fatally. The 
extreme fertility of the surrounding plains, in con- 
nexion with their moisture, and the constant decom- 
position of vegetable matter which is going forward, 
accounts for the insalubrity of the air. But the situa- 
tion of Cariaco is in some respects peculiarly disadvan- 
tageous. To the north-west of the town, near the ex- 
tremity of the gulf, is the great rneer called the Laguna 
de Campoma, which receives the waters of the Bio 
AzuL This meer is, in dry weather, divided into three 
basins. From its stagnant waters, fetid exhalations 
continually arise, and the smell of sulphuretted hydro- 
gen is mingled with that of putrid fishes and rotting 
plants.* When the north-west wind blows, which it 
frequently does after sunset, the effluvia which it bears 
cannot fail to be highly pernicious ; and the learned 
Traveller states, that intermittent fevers are found 
degenerating into typhus, in proportion as we ap- 
proach the laguna, which is the principal focus of the 
miasmata. Add to this, the sea-shore is covered with 
mangroves (rhizophora), avicennias, and other shrubs 
with bark of astringent properties, the roots and stocks 
of which being not always under water, but alter- 
nately wetted and exposed to the sun, give? forth very 
noxious exhalations. Both to the east and west of 
the Cerro del Meapire (or Cerro grande de Cariaco), 
which divides the valleys of Cariaco and San Boni- 
facio, low and marshy lands extend to the coast with- 
out interruption, and they are continually enlarging by 

* This appears to be the marsh referred to by M. Lavaysse ; see 
page 33, note. 

PAUT I. & 



98 



COLOMBIA. 



gaining on the sea. While standing on the summit 
of this ridge, the mountain currents may be seen run» 
ning on the east side to the Gulf of Paria, and, on the 
west, to the Gulf of Cariaco. Both those gulfs, which 
are supposed to owe their origin to the sinking of the 
earth and the rents caused by earthquakes, formerly 
occupied a much more considerable space. At present > 
at all events, the waters are retiring, and the changes 
on the shore are more particularly observable on the 
coast of Cumana. Near that town, the battery de la 
Bocca, which was built in 1791 on the very edge of 
the sea, was already, in 1799, far inland. At the 
mouth of the Rio Neveri^ near the morro of Barcelona, 
the retreat of the waters is still more rapid. 

The low land which extends eastward of the Sierra 
de Meapira, from Carupano, by the valley of San 
Bonifacio, toward the Gulf of Paria, is for the most 
part uncultivated and equally unhealthy. It is here 
that the best chocolate is produced. The plantations, 
which have diminished in the western provinces, 
giving way before the cultivation of cotton and the 
cane, have increased on the newly cleared and virgin 
soil of these pestilential regions, being found the more 
productive as the new and humid lands, still sur- 
rounded with forests, are in contact with an atmo, 
sphere damp and loaded with mephitic exhalations. 
" We there see," says Humboldt, " fathers of fami- 
lies attached to the old habits of the planters, prepare 
for themselves and their children a slow but secure 
fortune. A single slave is sufficient to help them in 
their toilsome labours. They clear the soil with their 
own hands, raise young cocoa-trees under the shade 
of the erythrinas or plantains, lop the grown trees, 
destroy the swarms of worms and insects that attack 



COLOMBIA. 99 

the bark, leaves, and flowers, dig trenches, and resolve 
to lead a wretched life for seven or eight years till 
the cocoa-tree begins to bear. Thirty thousand trees 
secure a competency to a family for a generation and 
a half." * In the plain of San Bonifacio, there is a 
large lake, four or five leagues in diameter, called the 
Laguna de Putacuao, communicating with the river 
Areo : it is surrounded by a mountainous district 
known only to the natives. 

It was not without sensations of regret that our 
Travellers quitted the shores of Cumana to prosecute 
their travels in the western provinces of Venezuela. 
" It was the first land," says the learned Writer, 
u that we had touched under a zone toward which 
my wishes had been turned from my earliest youth. 
There is something so great, so powerful, in the im- 
pression made by nature in the climate of the Indies, 
that, after an abode of a few months, we seemed to 
have lived there during a long succession of years. 
In Europe, the inhabitant of the North, or of the 
plains, feels an almost similar emotion, when he quits 
even after a short abode the shores of the Bay of 
Naples, the delicious country between Tivoli and the 
Lake of Nemi, or the wild and solemn scenery of the 
Higher Alps and the Pyrenees. Yet, every where 
under the temperate zone, the effects of the physio- 
gnomy of the vegetables afford little contrast. The 

* Pers. Narr. vol. iii. p. 194. The learned Traveller styles the 
cocoa-tree, " the olive of the country." All along the southern 
side of the Gulf of Cariaco, a tract covered with beautiful vegeta- 
tion, but almost entirely uncultivated, large plantations are seen 
bordering the shore. Their appearance is highly picturesque. 
Among the plants cultivated by man, the cocoa-palm, the sugar- 
cane, the banana, the mammee-apple, and the alligator pear, have 
alone the property of flourishing alike whether watered by fresh or 
by salt water. 



100 



COLOMBIA. 



firs and the oaks that crown the mountains of 
Sweden, have a certain family resemblance to those 
which vegetate in the fine climates of Greece and Italy. 
Between the tropics, on the contrary, in the lower 
regions of both Indies, every thing in nature appears 
new and marvellous. In the open plains, and amid 
the gloom of forests, almost all the remembrances of 
Europe are effaced ; for it is the vegetation that de- 
termines the character of a landscape, and acts upon 
our imagination by its mass, the contrast of its forms, 
and the glow of its colours. In proportion as impres- 
sions are powerful and new, they weaken antecedent 
impressions, and their strength gives them the ap- 
pearance of duration. I appeal to those who, more 
sensible of the beauties of nature than of the charms 
of social life, have long resided in the torrid zone. 
How dear, how memorable during life, is the land 
where they first disembarked ! A vague desire to 
revisit that spot, roots itself in their minds to the most 
advanced age. Cumana and its dusty soil are still 
more frequently present to my imagination, than all 
the wonders of the Cordilleras. Beneath the fine sky 
of the south, the light and the magic of the aerial 
hues, embellish a land almost destitute of vegetation. 
The sun does not merely enlighten, it colours the 
objects, and wraps them in a thin vapour, which, 
without changing the transparency of the air, renders 
its tints more harmonious, softens the effects of the 
light, and diffuses over nature that calm which is 
reflected in our souls. To explain this vivid impres- 
sion which the aspect of the scenery in the two Indias 
produces, even on coasts where there is little wood, it 
will be sufficient to recollect, that the beauty of the sky 
augments from Naples towards the equator, almost 
as much as from Provence toward the south of Italy. 



COLOMBIA. 



101 



" We passed at high water the bar which the little 
river Manzanares has formed at its mouth. The 
evening breeze gently swelled the waves of the Gulf 
of Cariaco. The moon had not risen, but that part of 
the milky way which extends from the feet of the 
Centaur toward the constellation of Sagittarius, 
seemed to pour a silvery light over the surface of the 
ocean. The white rock crowned by the Castle of San 
Antonio, appeared from time to time between the 
high tops of the cocoa-trees that border the shore. 
We soon recognised the coasts only by the scattered 
lights of the Guayqueria fishermen. In these mo- 
ments, we felt in all its force the charm of that spot, 
and the regret of leaving it. Five months had passed 
since we disembarked on that shore, as on a newly 
discovered land, strangers to all that surrounded us, 
approaching with mistrust every bush, every humid 
and shadowy spot. That coast now disappeared to 
our eyes, leaving remembrances which seemed of a* 
long date. The soil, the rocks, the plants, the inha- 
bitants, all now were become familiar to us." 

The passage from Cumana to the port of La Guayra 
is only sixty leagues, and often takes only from thirty- 
six to forty hours, the little coasting vessels being 
favoured at once by the wind and the currents. To 
avoid the latter in returning, the journey by land is 
sometimes preferred, which occupies nine days. The 
road from Cumana to Barcelona and Caracas is nearly 
in the same state as before the discovery of America. 
The traveller has to contend with all the obstacles of 
a miry country, large scattered rocks, and almost im- 
pervious vegetation ; he must sleep in the open air, 
cross several rapid mountain torrents, and run the 
risk of catching nervous and miasmatic fevers in 
passing through the extremely unhealthy tract of low 



102 



COLOMBIA, 



country which extends from the Bay of Mochima to 
Coro. The passage by sea, taking the whole boat, 
costs 120 piasters. The boats are thirty feet long, 
and not more than three feet high at the gunwale; 
they have no decks, and their lading is generally from 
200 to 250 quintals. Yet, although the sea is ex- 
tremely rough from Cape Codera to La Guayra, and 
although the boats carry an enormous triangular sail, 
somewhat dangerous in case of the sudden gusts which 
come down from the mountains, there had not been 
an instance during thirty years of one of them being 
lost in this passage. The skill of the Guayqueria 
pilots is so great, that shipwrecks are very rare even 
in the trips from Cumana to Guadaloupe, or the 
Danish islands, surrounded with breakers. 

Between Cumana and Cape Codera, where the sea 
forms a sort of shallow bay, two groupes of barren 
rocky islands, rising like bastions, appear to be frag- 
ments of the ancient coast, separated by some convul- 
sion of nature : they are called the Caracas and the 
Chimanas.* Behind these islands are the gulfs of 
Mochima and Santa Fe, which are likely one day, 
Humboldt says, to become frequented ports. 

At ten marine leagues from the port of Cumana, 
is New Barcelona, situated on the left bank of the 
River Neveri, (the Indian name is Enipiricuar.) 
which abounds with the species of crocodile so com- 
mon in the Orinoco. This port, the name of which 
till lately was scarcely to be found in our maps, has 
had an active trade since 1795. From this place is 

* " It may appear extraordinary," says the learned Traveller, 
f< to find Caracas islands so distant from the city of that name, 
opposite the coast of the Cumanagotoes ; but the denomination of 
Caracas denoted, at the conquest, a tribe of Indians, not any par- 
ticular spot. Guadaloupe tffas formerly called Caracqucira." 



COLOMBIA, 



103 



exported great part of the produce of the Llanos, con- 
sisting of salted provision, oxen, mules, and horses, 
for the West India islands, especially Cuba. The 
situation of Barcelona is particularly advantageous 
for this trade, as the animals have only three days' 
journey from the Llanos to the port, while it requires 
eight or nine days to cross the mountains to Cumana. 
In the years 1709 and 1800, no fewer than 30,000 
mules are computed to have been shipped for the 
Spanish, English, and French islands, of which 
8,000 were embarked at Barcelona, 6,000 at Puerto 
Cabello, 3,000 at Carupano, and the remainder at 
Coro, Burburata, and the mouths of the Guaripiche 
and the Orinoco. During the peace of Amiens, there 
were exported, M. Lavaysse states, from the port of 
Barcelona in one year, 132,000 oxen, 2,100 horses, 
84,000 mules, 800 asses, 180,000 quintals of smoked 
beef (tassajo), 38,000 ox hides, 4,500 horse hides, and 
6,000 deer skins. Barcelona was founded by Don Juan 
Urpin in 1634, prior to which the chief place in 
the district was the town of Cumanagoto, situated 
two leagues higher up the river, which is now only a 
miserable village. Though it enjoys a considerable 
trade, and contains some opulent houses, the town 
is badly built ; the houses are of mud, and, in general, 
very meanly furnished. The streets are unpaved ; 
they are consequently filthy during the rains, while, 
in fine weather, the dust is intolerable. It contains 
one church, a Franciscan hospital, and (in 1807) a 
population of 15,000 persons, of whom about half 
were whites. It lies in lat. 10° 6' 52" N. ; long. 
67° 4' W. ; about a league from the sea, and twelve 
leagues in a straight line W. of Cumana. Alcedo 
represents the temperature of this province to be the 
same as that of Cumana, though not so unhealthy:, 



104 



COLOMBIA. 



M. Lavaysse says, the fact is exactly the reverse % 
" the climate of Cumana is very healthy, though hot, 
because it is extremely dry ; that of the town of 
Barcelona is unhealthy from the opposite causes." 
Alcedo, however, speaks of the two provinces ; the 
French Traveller compares the two towns ; and both 
may be correct.* 

The province of Barcelona, which lies between that 
of Cumana on the east and Caracas on the west, 
extending southward to the Orinoco, is thinly 
inhabited and scantily cultivated, but is less moun- 
tainous than the adjoining provinces. In the en- 
virons of the town, some maize, cocoa, indigo, and 
cotton are grown; but the exports of these articles 
are inconsiderable. Large fertile districts lie wholly 
neglected, and the inhabitants for the most part pre- 
fer the grazing r system to the toil of cultivation. The 
only other town in the province is Conception del Pao, 
situated in the midst of savannas on the other side of 
the Brigantine, and containing, in 1807, 3,000 
inhabitants. It is 45 leagues from Barcelona, 55 from 
Cumana, and 28 S.E. of Caracas. 

On the right bank of the Neveri, a little fort has 
been built on a calcareous rock called El Morro de 
Barcelona, at an elevation of sixty or seventy toises 
above the sea-level, to command the landing-place. 
From the Morro to Cape Codera, the land becomes 
low as it recedes in a sort of cove toward the south ; 
the forests come down to the beach, and the shores are 
to be dreaded for their insalubrity. Bey6nd the pro- 
montory, the coast becomes rocky and very high, and 
presents scenes at once savage and picturesque. The 

* Lavaysse, p. 123 ; Alcedo's Diet. vol. i. p. 140 ; Depons' Tia- 
vels, vol. ii. p. 206; Humboldt. Pcrs. Narr. vol. iii. p. £61. 



COLOMBIA. 105 

mountains present perpendicular faces from 3 to 4,000 
feet high, casting broad and deep shadows upon the 
humid land which extends to the sea, and which glows 
with the freshest verdure. Fields of maize and sugar 
plantations are seen stretching along narrow valleys, 
which resemble clefts in the rocks, and present the 
most singular contrasts of light and shade. The 
mountain of Niguatar and the Silla of Caracas are 
the loftiest summits of this chain. " It seems as if 
the Pyrenees or the Alps, stripped of their snows, 
had risen from the bosom of the waters ; so much 
greater appears the mass of mountains when viewed 
for the first time from the sea." Near Caravalleda^ 
the cultivated lands enlarge : we find hills with gentle 
declivities, and the vegetation rises to a great height. 
Further westward, a wall of bare rocks again presents- 
itself towards the sea, on passing which, the village of 
Macuto is seen, pleasantly situated, with the black 
rocks of La Guayra, studded with batteries, rising 
in tiers one above another, and, in a misty distance, 
Cabo Blanco, a long promontory of dazzling white- 
ness, with its conical summits. Cocoa-trees border the 
shore, and give it, under that burning sky, an appear - 
ance of fertility. 

CARACAS. 

La Guayra, the port of Caracas, is a mere road- 
stead, open to the north and east, and slightly shel- 
tered to the west by Cape Blanco. But for this cape, 
it would have no pretensions whatever to be called a 
port ; and as it is, those pretensions are very slight. 
Vessels anchor in from six and seven to five and 
twenty and thirty fathoms, according to their distance 
from shore, with a bottom generally of white sand. 



106 



COLOMBIA. 



The worm is very destructive to the bottoms of such 
vessels as .are not coppered. There is almost con- 
stantly a swell, which is sometimes so violent as to 
prevent all intercourse with the shore for several days 
together ; and the lading is at all times taken in with 
difficulty. " It is a singular spectacle," says an 
English Traveller with whom we shall now join com- 
pany, " when the air is perfectly calm, to see upon 
the beach a continued line of high breakers, which 
succeed each other incessantly, and descend with a 
roaring which is heard far up the valleys. On account 
of this surf, the wharf of La Guayra, which is of wood, 
and upwards of 160 feet in length, stands in need of 
continual repair." * 

The very singular situation of La Guayra is com- 
pared by M. Humboldt to that of Santa Cruz in 
TenerifTe. " The chain of mountains that separates 
the port from the high valley of Caracas, descends 
almost directly into the sea ; and the houses of the 
town are backed by a wall of steep rocks. There 
scarcely remains 100 or 140 toises breadth of flat 
ground between the wall and the ocean. The town 
has 6 or 8,000 inhabitants, and contains only two 
streets, running parallel to each other east and west. 
It is commanded by the battery of Cerro Colorado ; 
and its fortifications along the sea-side are well dis- 
posed and kept in repair. The aspect of this place 
has something solitary and gloomy ; we seemed not 
to be on a continent covered with vast forests, but in 
a rocky island destitute of mould and vegetation. 
With the exception of Cape Blanco and the cocoa- 
trees of Maiquetia, no view meets the eye but that of 
the horizon, the sea, and the azure vault of heaven. 



* Scrapie's Sketch of Caracas, p. 37. 



COLOMBIA. 107 

The heat is stifling during the day, and most fre- 
quently during the night. The climate of La Guayra 
is justly considered as more ardent than that of Cu- 
mana, Puerto Cabello, and Coro ; because the sea- 
breeze is less felt, and the air is heated by the radiant 
caloric which the perpendicular rocks emit from the 
time the sun sets."* 

The town is irregularly and badly built, the lower 
street in a line parallel with the beach, and most of 
the others stretching up the side of the mountain, at 
the foot of which the town is built, and along the 
high bank of a ravine in which flows a small stream. 
After heavy rains, this becomes for a short time an 
impassable torrent, and has sometimes even over- 
flowed its lofty banks, to the great danger of the lower 
part of the town. The only public building of any 
consequence is the custom-house, which is large and 
commodious. The church has nothing in it remark- 
able ; " nor is there, indeed," adds Mr. Semple, " in 
the whole place, an object worthy of detaining the tra- 
veller a single hour*'* This gentleman visited La 
Guayra in 1810. Two years after, the earthquake 
which desolated Caracas, reduced La Guayra to little 
better than a heap of ruins ; and according to the. 
statement of a recent traveller, it had not recovered 
so lately as February 1823, from the effects of the dire 

* The four hottest places on the shores of the New World are 
considered to be La Guayra, Cumana, the Havannah, and Vera 
Cruz ; to which, Humboldt says, may be added, Coro, Carthagena, 
Omoa, Campeachy, Guayaquil, and Acapulco. The mean of the 
whole year is, at La Guayra nearly 28*1° ; at Cumana 27'7° ; at 
Vera Cruz 25-4° ; at the Havannah 25-6° ; at Rio Janeiro 23-5° ; 
at Santa Cruz in Teneriffe 21-9° ; at Cairo 22*4° ; at Batavia and 
Madras not above 25° and 27°; at Rome 15«3° (cent, ther.) La 
Guayra is, therefore, one of the hottest places on the earth.— 
Humboldt, Pers, Nmr. vol. iii. p. 388. 



108 



COLOMBIA. 



visitation. It is described as presenting a most dismal 
aspect, and the coast was covered with wrecks. A 
violent swell from the N.E. had, in the preceding 
month, cast on shore every vessel that was lying 
off the port, except one ; and no fewer than fourteen 
hulks were then on the beach.* Yet, the commerce 
carried on with La Guayra is considerable, and, as this 
Writer states, is daily increasing both with Great 
Britain and North America. 

Notwithstanding the heat of the climate, the yellow 
fever, here called calentura amarilla y is stated to have 
been unknown at La Guayra prior to 1797 ; and 
many individuals, Humboldt says, preferred the ardent 
but uniform temperature of the port, to the cooler 
but extremely variable climate of the capital. That 
scourge of the equinoctial regions was confined, on 
this coast, to Puerto Cabello, Carthagena, and Santa 
Marta. Since 1797? however, it has committed 
great ravages at La Guayra. Here, there is no beach 
of mangroves ; the soil is extremely dry and destitute 
of vegetation, and there would appear to be nothing 
to produce miasmata. The streets, moreover, are 
tolerably clean, and the aspect of the place would 
seem to exclude the idea that the fever can be strictly 
endemic, as at Vera Cruz; although it finds a limit, as 
in Mexico, at La Cumbre and the Cerro de Avila, the 
height of which a little exceeds that of Encero.-j- 
Intermittent, putrid, and bilious fevers, often prevail 
at Macuto and Caravalleda. To these the natives are 
subject, whereas the yellow fever appears to be the 
effect of the climate on the constitution of strangers ; 
and it is remarkable, that hitherto it has been confined 

* Letters from Colombia, p. 2. 

f See Mod. Trav. Mexico, vol. i. p. 22*2. 



COLOMBIA. 



109 



almost entirely to the sea-ports. This has been ac- 
counted for by supposing that the persons bring the 
disease who disembark there ; but how does this ex- 
plain the circumstance, that whites and mestizoes 
coming from the interior, are still more liable to con- 
tract the disorder than Europeans who arrive by sea ? 
Its appearance at La Guayra certainly seems to favour 
the idea, that it propagates itself by contagion ; and 
yet, Humboldt asserts, that immediate contact does 
not augment the danger ; and no instance has been 
known of the fever's being communicated by the sick, 
when removed to the inland country. The latter 
circumstance, however, would prove only, that, like 
the plague, this pestilential fever requires a certain 
temperature of the atmosphere, to communicate the 
infection. Humboldt cites the opinion of M. Bailly, 
some time chief physician to the colony of St. Do- 
mingo, as according with his own, that " the typhus 
is very often, but not always contagious." With this 
agrees the statement of Sir Gilbert Blane. " I saw 
enough," he says, " in the hospital at Barbadoes, and 
in the ships and hospital at Jamaica, to convince me 
of its contagious nature in certain circumstances ; and 
from the best consideration I have since been able to 
give this subject, I remain persuaded, that whenever 
it is so aggravated as to appear in an epidemic and 
pestilential form, it is truly contagious."* Instances 

* " Select Dissertations on several Subjects of Medical Science. 
By Sir Gilbert Blane, Bart., F.R.S., &c." p. 235. This very intel- 
ligent writer, whose extensive experience gives weight to his 
authority, makes a remark of great importance, but requiring to 
be verified by further observation. " It seems," he says, e< to be a 
general rule, that no effluvia emanating from corrupted dead mat- 
ter, even in a state of the rankest putrefaction, ever produces a 
fever of a contagious nature. It is presumable, therefore, when 
these exhalations do produce contagious fevers, or convert a com- 
PAliT I. H 



110 



COLOMBIA* 



are cited by tliis writer, of the fever's being communi- 
cated from one ship to another at sea. The fact ap- 
pears to be, that, under the names of yellow fever, 
vomito prieto, and calentura amarilla, two distinct 
distempers have been confounded, differing both in 
their origin and character, but resembling each other 
in their more obvious symptoms ; the one strictly 
endemic and non-contagious, the other epidemic and 
pestilential, the true typhus icterocles. The yellow 
colour of the skin, which forms a conspicuous point of 
resemblance, is said to differ, however, in the two 
diseases : in the latter, it becomes of a dingy orange ; 
in the former, it is a bright yellow. It appears, more- 
over, that there are instances of the endemic yellow 
fever degenerating into the contagious ; and this tran- 
sition, which is seen in other intermittent fevers, has 
contributed still more to their being confounded. 
Thus, the endemic vomit o prieto of Vera Cruz has 
occasionally assumed a more virulent and infectious 
character, which the natives always trace to the 
arrival of shipping. At La Guayra, the yellow fever 
would appeal* to be not endemic; and it seems to have 
been the epidemic which committed such ravages. 
The Author of " Letters from Colombia " says : 
" Humboldt speaks of the yellow fever as prevailing 
at La Guayra : if it was known there in his time, it 

mon fever into one of an infectious and malignant character, that 
they consist, in part at least, of the vitiated effluvia generated by 
the living human body, constituting some form of the typhous 
morbific poison."— Ibid. p. 289. The yellow fever cannot be traced 
further back than the middle of the seventeenth century, and it 
appears certain, that no such malady had previously existed. If all 
specific contagions take their origin from animals, is it not very 
probable, as the learned writer suggests, that this dreadful dis- 
temper may have arisen from circumstances connected with the im- 
portation or treatment of the African slaves? 



COLOMBIA. 



Ill 



has since disappeared, for there is no trace of it at 
present. An English physician directed his inquiries 
particularly to this point during a short stay at La 
Guayra and Caracas, but could not any where meet 
with or hear of the yellow fever." The apprehension, 
therefore, expressed by the learned Traveller, that, 
owing to the extreme equality of temperature which 
characterises this climate, the typhus, if it once esta- 
blished itself, would become permanent, appears to be 
groundless. No instance, we believe, exists of an 
epidemic distemper degenerating into one of an en- 
demic character. During the five months that Mr. 
Semple remained in this country, La Guayra might 
vie, he says, in point of healthiness, with any settle- 
ment in the West Indies ; although in the summer 
months, he was told, that the heat reflected from the 
hills renders the place intolerable to Europeans. La 
Guayra is in lat. 10° 36' 19" N., long. 67° 6' 45" W. 

The road from the port to Caracas, resembles the 
passages over the Alps. It is infinitely finer, Hum- 
boldt says, than that from Honda to Bogota, or from 
Guayaquil to Quito, and is even kept in better order 
than the ancient road from Vera Cruz to Perote. 
With good mules, it requires but three hours to 
ascend, and only two hours to return. With loaded 
mules or on foot, the journey occupies from four to 
five hours. The elevation of Caracas is but a third 
of that of Mexico, Quito, or Bogota ; and w among 
all the capitals of Spanish America which enjoy a cool 
and delicious climate in the midst of the torrid zone, 
Caracas stands nearest to the coast." For the first 
mile, the road continues along the shore to Macuta 
(or Maiquetia), a neat and pleasant village, where 
most of the wealthier inhabitants of La Guayra have 
houses. Here, the mountains recede a little from the 



112 



COLOMBIA. 



shore, leaving a small opening, better adapted, Mr, 
Semple says, for the situation of the port than the 
rude spot on which it has been built. The road then 
turns to the left, and ascends to a considerable height 
through a deep clay or rich mould, which, in rainy 
weather, would be impassable, were not the road in 
many places paved. In the steepest parts, it ascends 
by zig-zags, but is sometimes so narrow, that two 
loaded mules cannot pass each other, and the banks 
are high and steep on each side. 64 Wo betide the 
traveller," says Mr. Semple, of whose descrip- 
tion we shall now avail ourselves, U who, in these 
passes, meets a line of mules loaded with planks, 
which stretch transversely almost from side to side. 
He must either turn about his horse's head, or pass 
them with the utmost caution, at the risk of having 
his ribs encountered by a long succession of rough 
boards, which, at every swerve of the mules, scoop 
out long grooves in the clayey banks. 

" We continue constantly to ascend. On the road 
was the stone body of the statue of a saint on a miser- 
able low sledge, which had been with great difficulty 
brought thus far, when the project seemed to have 
been abandoned in despair, as it continued here for 
several months. The head, we were informed, had 
already reached Caracas, where it was impatiently 
waiting the arrival of the body to be joined to it, and 
reared on high as an object of veneration to surround- 
ing multitudes. The stoppage of this statue marked 
the increasing difficulties of the ascent. From clay, 
the road changes in many parts to rugged rock, which 
appears not merely to have been thus purposely left, 
but to have been formed in its present state. At the 
height of about a thousand feet, we begin to breathe 
already a lighter and cooler air ; and, turning back, 



COLOMBIA. 



113 



enjoy the view of Macuta and the coast beneath our 
feet. We see the white breakers along the shore, 
and hear their noise, which now sounds like a hollow 
murmur among the woods which begin to crown 
the steeps. Opposite to us is a high and steep hill, 
covered with vegetation, and all the deep hollow be- 
tween is dark with trees. Here and there, spots are 
cleared away, plantations are formed, and the expe- 
rienced eye can distinguish the various hues of the 
fields of coffee, sugar, or maize. We pass also, from 
time to time, two or three miserable huts, where the 
muleteers are accustomed to stop and refresh them- 
selves. In this manner we continue to ascend, the 
mountains still rising steep before us, till we arrive at 
a draw -bridge over a deep cut made across the narrow 
ridge upon which we have been advancing. On each 
side are deep valleys, clothed with tall trees and thick 
underwood, through which there is no path. This 
point is defended by two or three guns and a few 
soldiers, and forms the first military obstacle to the 
march of an enemy. In its present state, it is by no 
means formidable, but a very little care might render 
it so. Having passed this, the steepness increases, so 
that the mules, and even the foot traveller, can pro- 
ceed only by crossing obliquely from side to side ; and 
even that is attended with difficulty after rain or 
heavy dews, on account of the smooth round stones 
with which the road is paved. But the great and 
enlivening change experienced in the state of the 
atmosphere, removes all difficulties. Never within 
the tropics had I before breathed so pure and so cool 
an air. Instead of the stifling heat of the coast, where 
the slightest exertion was attended with profuse per- 
spiration, I walked fast for joy, and thought myself 
in England. It was four o'clock in the afternoon 



114 COLOMBIA. 

when I left La Guayra, and it was now become dark 
when I reached La Venta (the inn), a poor house, 
but well known upon the road as being about half- 
way between Caracas and the Port. It is situated at 
the height of about 3,600 English itct above the level 
of the sea, at which elevation the heat is never oppres- 
sive. Here, having supped and drunk large draughts 
of delicious cold water, I repaired to sleep, unmolested 
by heat or mosquitoes. Being still warm with my 
walk and my supper, I cared little that the frame on 
which I lay down was unprovided with a single article 
of covering ; but, about midnight, I awoke shivering 
with cold, and astonished at a sensation so unexpected. 
At three o'clock, it being a fine moonlight morning, 
we resumed our journey, having still a considerable 
distance to ascend, although the worst of the road was 
now past. In an hour, we had passed the highest 
point of the road, and proceeded along an uneven 
ridge of two or three miles before beginning to descend 
towards the valley of Caracas. On the summit of 
the highest hill above the road is a fort, which com- 
pletes the military defences on the side of La Guayra. 
This fort is visible only from certain points somewhat 
distant, as we wind close round the base of the hill on 
which it stands, without seeing any vestiges of it. 
When we had passed the ridge, and were descending 
towards Caracas, the day began to dawn. Never had 
I seen a more interesting prospect. A valley upwards 
of twenty miles in length, enclosed by lofty mountains, 
unfolded itself by degrees to my eyes. A small river 
which runs through the whole length of it, was 
marked by a line of mist along the bottom of the val- 
ley ; while the large white clouds which here and 
there lingered on the sides of the hills, began to be 
tinged with the first beams of light. Beneath my feet 



COLOMBIA. 115 

was the town of Caracas, although only its church 
towers were visible, rising above the light mist in 
which it lay buried. Presently the bells began to 
chime, and I heard all their changes distinctly, al- 
though, following the windings of the road, I had still 
four miles to descend, whilst, in a straight line, the 
distance did not appear more than one. At the foot 
of the hill is a gate, where a guard and officers are 
stationed, to examine the permits for merchandise, 
and sometimes the passports of strangers. Within 
this is an open space before reaching the town, which 
we entered about six o'clock. After passing the first 
rows of houses, I was struck with the neatness and 
regularity of most of the streets, which were well 
paved, and far superior to any thing I had yet seen 
in the West Inches. In the principal posada (inn), 
kept by a Genoese, I found every accommodation that 
could be reasonably expected. And indeed, for some 
days, the constant sensation of refreshing coolness in 
the mornings and evenings, as well as throughout the 
night, was of itself a luxury which seemed to have 
all the charms of novelty, and left no room for petty 
complaints."* 

Santiago de Leon de Caracas, the ancient capital of 
the captain-generalship, is situated in lat. 10° 36' 15" 
N., long. 67° 4' 45" W., at the elevation of nearly 
2,500 feet (414 toises) above the level of the sea, at 

* The ascent begins with a ridge of rocks extremely steep, and 
stations that bear the name of Torre Quemada (burnt tower, indi- 
cating the sensation that is felt here in descending towards La 
Guayra), Cumeuti, and Salto (the leap), a crevice which is passed 
on a draw-bridge. From Cumeuti to Salto, the ascent is some- 
what less laborious, owing to the windings of the road. Be- 
sides the Venta Grande, there were formerly several small inns 
along the road, which have since been destroyed. At nearly the 
highest point stood the Venta del Cuayavo. 



116 



COLOMBIA. 



the entrance of the plain of Chacao, which extends 
above twenty miles east and west, and varies from 
four to six or seven in breadth ; it is watered by the 
river Guayra. The mountains of Higuerota, in which 
this river has its origin, separate the valley of Caracas 
from that of Aragua. The valley narrows towards 
the west, where it is almost entirely shut in by the 
hills which, on the southern side, rise in gradations 
one above another, while those on the northern side, 
separating the valley from the coast, form one bold 
and continued range. The ground on which the 
town is built, slopes regularly down to the Guayra. 
which bounds it on the south; the custom-house of 
the Pastor a being 400 fee£, and the Plaza Mayor 
nearly 200 feet above the bed of the river. The de- 
clivity is not so rapid as to prevent carriages from 
going about the town, but the inhabitants make little 
use of them. Three small streams descending from 
the mountains, the Anauco, the Catuche, and the 
Caraguata, cross the town from north to south : their 
banks are very high, and, with the dry ravines which 
join them, furrow the ground in a manner somewhat 
resembling the guaicos, or crevices of Pichincha, in 
Quito. Of these three streams, which join the 
Guayra, the Catuche is the most valuable, as the chief 
supply of water is derived from it for the public foun- 
tains and private reservoirs ; the richer class, how- 
ever, have their water brought from La Valle, a vil- 
lage a league distant towards the south, the water of 
which is deemed very salubrious, because it flows over 
sarsaparilla. Besides its inclination to the south, the 
ground slopes also to the east ; and after heavy rain 
every street pours a muddy torrent into either the 
Guayra or the Anauco ; but, in a few minutes, all is 
again dry, and the whole town is suddenly rendered 



COLOMBIA. 



117 



cleaner than could be effected by the utmost labour, 
were it less singularly situated. The city is built in 
the Spanish fashion; the streets, which are in general 
a hundred yards wide, crossing at right angles, divide 
the whole town into square portions called quadras^ 
which here and there are left to form open squares. 
The Plaza Mayor has the cathedral on the east side, 
the college on the south, and the prison on the west ; 
but it is disfigured by ranges of low shops, which form 
a sort of inner square. Here is held the fruit, vege- 
table, and fish market, where the banana, the pine- 
apple, and the sapadillo are mingled with the apple, 
the pear, and the potato, the produce of every zone 
with the fish peculiar to the tropical seas. Caracas 
contains eight churches, three convents, two nunne- 
ries, three hospitals, and a theatre that will contain 
from 15 to 18,00 persons. The pit, in which the 
seats of the men are separated from those allotted to 
the female part of the audience, is left uncovered, and 
there may be seen at once the actors and the stars. 
Nothing, as may be supposed, can be more contemp- 
tible than the performances. The cathedral is heavily 
built and badly planned; it is 250 feet long by 75 
broad, and its walls are 36 feet high. Four ranges of 
columns, six in each range, without beauty or pro- 
portion, support the roof ; but, to compensate for the 
inelegance of the architecture, the brick steeple con- 
tained the only public clock in the city. The most 
splendid church, in point of the richness of its orna- 
ments, was that of A Ita Gratia^ built at the expense 
of the people of colour, as that of La Candelaria was 
by the Islenos from the Canaries. The church of 
the Dominicans boasts of a curious " historical pic- 
ture^" representing the Virgin suckling the sainted 
founder of their order, a grey -beard monk, to whom a 



113 



COLOMBIA. 



physician had prescribed woman's milk for a violent 
pain in his breast. Besides the two nunneries of Con- 
ception and Carmel, there is a much more useful in- 
stitution for the education of young females, belonging 
to the congregation of Las Educandas, The college, 
the only public institution for the education of young 
men, was founded by the Archbishop Antonio Gon- 
zales d'Acuna, so lately as 1778, and was erected into 
a university, by permission of the Pope, in 1792. In 
this university, reading and writing are first taught. 
Three Latin professors teach enough of that language 
to enable their scholars to read mass and study Duns 
Scotus. A professor of medicine lectures on anatomy, 
&c, by aid of a skeleton and some preparations in 
wax. Four professors are occupied in teaching theo- 
logy, and one the canon law. One is charged with 
tl^e exposition of the Roman law, the Castilian laws, 
the code of the Indies, and 44 all other laws;" and 
finally, there is a professor of vocal church music. 
44 The routine of education," says Mr. Semple, 44 is 
such as it may be supposed to have been in Spain two 
hundred years ago ; a few common Latin authors, 
catechisms, and the Lives of Saints, being the chief 
studies. A free mode of thinking is, however, rapidly 
spreading among the young men, and may hereafter 
produce the most important effects.'" M. Lavaysse 
explains what turn this free mode of thinking had 
taken. 44 I am informed," he says, 44 that the leaders 
of the independent party have introduced into the 
courses of instruction, tlie study of the philosophy of 
Locke and of Condillac, the physics of Bacon and 
Newton, pneumatics, chemistry, and mathematics, to 
the high displeasure of certain persons whose luxury 
and corpulence were maintained by the ignorance of 
their countrymen." The barracks, which stand above 



COLOMBIA. 



119 



the town, are large and commodious, capable of hold- 
ing" 2,000 men, and, from their situation, might com- 
pletely command the town, were they not overlooked 
by the neighbouring heights. 

Caracas was the residence, under the colonial sys- 
tem, of the captain-general, the intendant, an au- 
diencia, an archbishop and chapter, and a holy office. 
The archbishop had for his suffragans, the Bishops 
of Merida and Guayana : his revenue was about 
60,000 dollars, which, by the sale of indulgences, 
dispensations, and bulls, was raised to 30,000 more. 
The captain-general and all the public officers lived 
in hired houses, the treasury and the barracks being 
the only edifices that belonged to the Government. 
The population, in 1807, amounted to 47,228 persons, 
of all colours; of whom, according to M. Depons, 

the whites formed nearly one-fourth, the slaves a 
third, the Indians a twentieth, and the freed persons 
the rest." M. Humboldt, however, states that, of 
45,000 persons, which the best-informed inhabitants 
believed it to contain in 1800, 18,000 were whites, 
and 27,000 persons of colour. The census of 1778 
had made the number amount to nearly 32,000. Since 
then, it had continued to increase; and in 1810, the 
city contained, according to M. Lavaysse, 50,000 
souls ; the population of the Avhole province being 
490,772.* Such was about the number, when, by the 
great earthquake of the 26th of March, 1812, 12,000 
inhabitants were buried under the ruins of their 
houses ; and the political commotions which succeeded 
that catastrophe, have reduced the number of inha- 
bitants to less than 20,000 souls ! More than half 
the town is now in ruins. 66 The houses of Caracas," 



* Lavaysse, p. 52. 



120 



COLOMBIA. 



says a recent Traveller, " once so rich in the costli- 
ness of their furniture and decorations,* can now 
barely boast of the commonest articles of convenience ; 
and it is with the utmost difficulty that a table, chair, 
or bedstead, can at present be procured. That part 
which is nearest the mountain, presents a continued 
mass of ruins. For the full space of a mile, the 
streets are overgrown with weeds, and are entirely 
uninhabited." -j* 

" On approaching the guard-house of the barrier to 
pay the toll exacted from travellers, I was struck," 
says another Writer, u with the wretchedness of its 
appearance, the filth which surrounded it, and the 
squalid figures of the soldiery, whose small stature, 
dirty, ragged clothing, half -poll shed muskets, and 
lack of shoes and stockings, afforded the most con- 
vincing proofs of the exhausted and miserable state 
to which intestine war has reduced this fine country. 
From this barrier, the road lies along a ridge to 
the entrance of the town, where the first object that 
attracted my attention, was a church on my left, 
which had been shattered by the earthquake. The 
walls only of the nave stood erect, although split in 
some places, and partly concealed by the wild vegeta- 
tion, which, in this country, seems ever ready to take 
advantage of the desertion of any spot to recover 
it from human usurpation. The central tower had 
not entirely fallen, but stood deeply rent from the 
top, in a leaning position, threatening destruction to 
all within its reach. Many similar scenes of dilapida- 

* M. Depons dilates on the beautiful glasses, crimson damask 
curtains, gilded bedsteads, down pillows in muslin cases trimmed 
with lace, rich carpets, brilliant lustres, rich and luxurious sofas, 
&c. &c. found in the houses of the principal inhabitants. 

| Letters from Colombia, p. 8. 



COLOMBIA. 



tion characterised this part of the town, roofless and 
shattered walls, leaning with various degrees of 
inclination, being met with at every step. A little 
further on, symptoms of renovation appear, in a few 
houses which are building ; and at length, on reaching 
the southern part, few traces of the calamity are seen, 
the houses generally remaining entire, with merely 
occasional flaws in the walls. These are chiefly built 
of sun-dried clay, or mud (tapia) beaten down between 
wooden frames. The roofs are of tile, and the walls 
white-washed." * 

EARTHQUAKE OF 1812. 

The pen of M. Humboldt has supplied us with 
a vivid and affecting description of the awful convul- 
sion which overwhelmed the town, and changed, in 
some places, the surface of the soil. A shock had 
been felt at Caracas in the month of December 1811. 
From that time, however, the inhabitants were undis- 
turbed till, on the 7th and 8th of February, 1812, the 
earth was, day and night, in perpetual oscillation. A 
great drought prevailed at this period throughout the 
province. Not a drop of rain had fallen at Caracas, 
or for ninety leagues round, during the five months 
which preceded the destruction of the capital. The 
26 th of March, the fatal day, was remarkably hot ; 
the air was calm, the sky unclouded. " It was Holy 
Thursday, and a great part of the population was 
assembled in the churches. Nothing seemed to pre- 
sage the calamities of the day. At seven minutes 
after four in the afternoon, the first shock was felt ; it 
was sufficiently powerful to make the bells of the 

* Cochrane'^ Colombia, vol. i« p. 15. 



122 



COLOMBIA. 



churches toll ; it lasted five or six seconds, during 
which time the ground was in a continual undulating 
movement, and seemed to heave up like a boiling 
liquid. The danger was thought to be past, when 
a tremendous subterraneous noise was heard, re- 
sembling the rolling of thunder, but louder, and of 
longer continuance than that heard within the tropics 
in time of storms. This noise preceded a perpen- 
dicular motion of three or four seconds, followed by 
an undulatory movement somewhat longer. The 
shocks were in opposite directions, from north to 
south, and from east to West. Nothing could resist the 
movement from beneath upward and the undulations, 
crossing each other. The town of Caracas was en- 
tirely overthrown. Thousands of the inhabitants 
(between 9 and 10,000) were buried under the ruins 
of the houses and churches. The procession had not 
yet set out, but the crowd was so great in the 
churches, that nearly 3 or 4,000 persons were crushed 
by the fall of their vaulted roofs. The explosion was 
stronger toward the north, in that part of the town 
situate nearest the mountain of Avila and the Silla. 
The churches of La Trinidad and Alta Gratia, which 
were more than 150 feet high, and the naves of 
which were supported by pillars of twelve or fifteen feet 
in diameter, left a mass of ruins scarcely exceeding five 
or six feet in elevation. The sinking of the ruins has 
been so considerable, that there now scarcely remain 
any vestiges of pillars or columns. The barracks, 
called El Quartet de San Carlos , situate further north 
of the church of the Trinity, on the road from 
the custom-house de la Pastora, almost entirely dis- 
appeared. A regiment of troops of the line, that was 
assembled under arms, ready to join the procession, 
was, with the exception of a few men, buried under 



COLOMBIA. 



123 



the ruins of this great edifice. Nine-tenths of the 
fine town of Caracas were entirely destroyed. The 
walls of the houses that were not thrown down, as 
those of the street San Juan, near the Capuchin 
Hospital, were cracked in such a manner, that it was . 
impossible to run the risk of inhabiting them. The 
eifects of the earthquake were somewhat less violent 
in the western and southern parts of the city, between 
the principal square and the ravine of Caraguata. 
There, the cathedral, supported by enormous but- 
tresses, remains standing. Estimating at 9 or 10,000 
the number of the dead in the city of Caracas, we do 
not include those unhappy persons who, dangerously 
wounded, perished several months after for want of 
food and proper care. The night of Holy Thursday 
presented the most distressing scene of desolation 
and sorrow. A thick cloud of dust, which, rising 
above the ruins, darkened the sky like a fog, had 
settled on the ground. No shock was felt, and never 
was a .night more calm or more serene. The moon, 
nearly full, illumined the rounded domes of the Silla, and 
the aspect of the sky formed a perfect contrast to that 
of the earth, covered with the dead, and heaped with 
ruins. Mothers were seen bearing in their arms 
their children, whom they hoped to recall to life. 
Desolate families wandered through the city, seeking 
a brother, a husband, a friend, of whose fate they 
were ignorant, and whom they believed to be lost 
in the crowd. The people pressed along the streets, 
which could no more be recognised but by long lines of 
ruins. All the calamities experienced in the great 
catastrophes of Lisbon, Messina, Lima, and Rio- 
bamba, were renewed on the fatal day of the 20th 
of March, 1812. The wounded, buried under the 
ruins, implored, by their cries, the help of the passers- 



■ 

124 COLOMBIA, 

by, and nearly two thousand were dug out. Never 
was pity displayed in a more affecting manner ; never 
had it been seen more ingeniously active, than in the 
efforts employed to save the miserable victims whose 
groans reached the ear. Implements for digging and 
clearing away the ruins were entirely wanting ; and 
the people were obliged to use their bare hands to 
disinter the living. The wounded, as well as the 
sick who had escaped from the hospitals, were laid on 
the banks of the small river Guayra. They found no 
shelter but the foliage of trees. Beds, linen to dress, 
the wounds, instruments of surgery, medicines, and 
objects of the most urgent necessity, were buried 
under the ruins. Every thing, even food, was. 
wanting during the first days, Water became alike 
scarce in the interior of the city. The commotion 
had rent the pipes of the fountains ; the falling in 
of the earth had choked up the springs that supplied 
them ; and it became necessary, in order to have 
water, to go down to the River Guayra, which was 
considerably swelled ; and then vessels to convey the 
water were wanting. There remained a duty to be 
fulfilled toward the dead, enjoined at once by piety 
and the dread of infection. It being impossible to 
inter so many thousand corpses, half -buried under the 
ruins, commissaries were appointed to burn the bodies ; 
and, for this purpose, funeral piles were erected 
between the heaps of ruins. This ceremony lasted 
several days. Amid so many public calamities, the 
people devoted themselves to those religious duties 
which they thought were the most fitted to appease the 
wrath of Heaven. Some, assembling in processions, 
sung funeral hymns ; others, in a state of distraction, 
confessed themselves aloud in the streets. In this 
town was now repeated what had been remarked in the 



COLOMBIA. 



125 



province of Quito, after the tremendous earthquake 
of 1797 ; a number of marriages were contracted 
between persons who had neglected for many years to 
sanction their union by the sacerdotal benediction. 
Children found parents by whom they had never till 
then been acknowledged ; restitutions were promised 
by persons who had never been accused of fraud ; and 
families who had long been enemies, were drawn 
together by the tie of common calamity. If this 
feeling seemed to calm the passions of some, and open 
the heart to pity, it had a contrary effect on others, 
rendering them more rigid and inhuman. In great 
calamities, vulgar minds preserve still less goodness 
than strength. Misfortune acts in the same manner 
as the pursuits of literature and the study of nature ; 
their happy influence is felt only by a few, giving more 
ardour to sentiment, more elevation to the thoughts, 
and more benevolence to the disposition. 

u Shocks as violent as those which, in the space of 
one minute,* overthrew the city of Caracas, could not 
be confined to a small portion of the continent. Their 
fatal effects extended as far as the provinces of Vene- 
zuela, Varinas, and Maracaybo, along the coast ; and 
still more to the inland mountains. La Guayra, 
Mayquetia, Antimano, Baruta, La Vega, San Felipe, 
and Merida, were almost entirely destroyed. The 
number of the dead exceeded 4 or 5,000 at La Guayra, 
and at the town of San Felipe, near the copper-mines 
of Aroa. It appears that it was on a line running 
E.N.E. and W.S.W., from La Guayra and Caracas 
to the lofty mountains of Niquitao and Merida, that 

* « The duration of the earthquake, that is to say, the whole of 
the movements of undulation and rising (undulaceon y trepidation) 
which occasioned the horrible catastrophe of the 26th of March, 
1812, was estimated by some at 50", by others at 1' 12"." 



126 



COLOMBIA. 



the violence of the earthquake was principally directed. 
It was felt in the kingdom of New Grenada from 
the branches of the high Sierra de Santa Marta,* 
as far as Santa Fe de Bogota and Honda, on the 
banks of the Magdalena, 180 leagues from Caracas. 
It was every where more violent in the cordiileras of 
gneiss and mica-slate, or immediately at their foot, 
than in the plains ; and this difference was par- 
ticularly striking in the savannas of Varinas and 
Casanara. (This is easily explained, according to the 
system of those geologists who admit, that all the 
chains of mountains, volcanic and not volcanic, have 
been formed by being raised up, as if through cre- 
vices.) In the valleys of Aragua, situated between 
^Caracas and the town of San Felipe, the commotions 
were very weak ; and La Victoria, Maracay, and 
Valencia, scarcely suffered at all, notwithstanding 
their proximity to the capital. At Valecillo, a few 
leagues from Valencia, the earth opening, threw out 
such an immense quantity of water, that it formed a 
new torrent. The same phenomenon took place 
near Puerto Cabello.-j- On the other hand, the lake of 
Maracaybo diminished sensibly. At Coro, no commo- 
tion was felt, though the town is situate upon the 
coast, between other towns which suffered from the 
earthquake. Fishermen who had passed the day 
of the 26th of March in the island of Orchiia, thirty 
leagues north-east of La Guayra, felt no shock. These 
differences in the direction and propagation of the 
shock, are probably owing to the peculiar arrange* 

* i( As far as Villa de Los Remedies, and even to Carthagena." 

f <s It is asserted, that in the mountains of Aroa, the ground, 
immediately after the great shocks, was found covered with a very 
fine and white earth, which appeared to have been projected 
through crevices." 



COLOMBIA. 



127 



ment of the stony strata. These commotions were 
very violent beyond Caurimare, in the valJey of 
Capaya, where they extended as far as the meridian 
of Cape Codera ; but it is extremely remarkable, 
that they were very feeble on the coasts of Barcelona, 
Cumana, and Paria, though these coasts have for- 
merly been often agitated by subterraneous commo- 
tions. 

" Fifteen or eighteen hours after the great catas- 
trophe, the ground remained tranquil. The night, 
as we have already observed, was fine and calm ; and 
the commotions did not recommence till after the 
27th. They were then attended with a very loud 
and long-continued subterranean noise (bramido). 
The inhabitants of Caracas wandered into the country ; 
but the villages and farms having suffered as much as 
the town, they could find no shelter till they were 
beyond the mountains of Los Teques, in the valleys 
of Aragua, and in the llanos or savannas. No less 
than fifteen oscillations were often felt in one day. 
On the 5th of April, there was almost as violent 
an earthquake as that which overthrew the capital. 
During several hours, the ground was in a state of per- 
petual undulation. Large masses of earth fell in the 
mountains ; and enormous rocks were detached from 
the Silla of Caracas. It was even asserted, and this 
opinion prevails still in the country, that the two 
domes of the Silla sunk fifty or sixty toises ; but this 
assertion is founded on no measurement whatever. I 
am informed, that in the province of Quito, also, the 
people, at every period of great commotions, imagine 
that the volcano of Tunguragua is diminished in 
height. 

" While violent commotions were felt at the same 
time in the valley of the Mississippi, in the island 



128 



COLOMBIA. 



of St. Vincent, and in the province of Venezuela, the 
inhabitants of Caracas, of Calabozo, situate in the 
midst of the steppes, and on the borders of the Rio 
Apura, in a space of 4,000 square leagues, were terri- 
fied, on the 30th of April, 1812, by a subterraneous 
noise, which resembled frequent discharges of the 
largest cannon. This noise began at two in the 
morning. It was accompanied by no shock, and, 
which is very remarkable, it was as loud on the coast 
as at eighty leagues' distance inland. It was every 
where believed to be transmitted through the air ; 
and was so far from being thought a subterraneous 
noise, that at Caracas, as well as at Calabozo, prepara- 
tions were made to put the place into a state of 
defence against an enemy, who seemed to be advancing 
with heavy artillery. Mr. Palacio, crossing the Rio 
Apura below the Orivante, near the junction of the 
Rio Nula, was told by the inhabitants, that the 
f firing of camion' had been heard as distinctly at the 
western extremity of the province of Varinas, as at 
the port of La Guayra to the north of the chain of the 
coast. 

" The day on which the inhabitants of Terra Firma 
were alarmed by this subterraneous noise, was that on 
which happened the great eruption of the volcano 
in the island of St. Vincent. This mountain, near 
500 toises high, had not thrown out any lava since 
the year 1718. Scarcely was any smoke perceived to 
issue from its top, when, in the month of May 1811, 
frequent shocks announced that the volcanic fire was 
either rekindled or directed anew toward that part of 
the West Indies. The first eruption did not take 
place till the 27th of April, 1812, at noon. It was 
only an ejection of ashes, but attended with a tre- 
mendous noise. On the 30th, the lava passed the 



COLOMBIA. 



129 



brink of the crater, and, after a course of four hours, 
reached the sea. The noise of the explosion ' resembled 
that of alternate discharges of very large cannon and 
of musketry ; and, which is well worthy of remark, it 
seemed much louder at sea, at a great distance from 
the island, than in sight of land, and near the burning 
volcano.' 

" The distance in a straight line from the volcano 
of St. Vincent to the Rio 'Apura, near the mouth 
of the Nula, is 210 leagues.* The explosions were 
consequently heard at a distance equal to that between 
Vesuvius and Paris. This phenomenon, connected 
with a great number of facts observed in the Cor- 
dilleras of the Andes, shews how much more ex- 
tensive the subterranean sphere of activity of a vol- 
cano is, than we are disposed to admit from the small 
changes effected at the surface of the globe. The 
detonations heard during whole days together in the 
New World, 80, 100, or even 200 leagues distant 
from a crater, do not reach us by the propagation 
of the sound through the air ; they are transmitted to 
us by the ground."-)- 

From the beginning of 1811 to 1813, the vast area 
lying between the parallels of 5° and 36° N., and the 
meridians of 29° and 89° W., was shaken by almost 
simultaneous commotions, the effect of subterranean 
fires. On the 30th of January, a sub-marine volcano 
appeared near the island of St. Michael, one of the 
Azores, where the sea was sixty fathoms deep. This 
new islet was at first nothing more than" a shoal. On 

* Where the contrary is not expressly stated, nautical leagues of 
twenty to a degree, or 2,855 toises, are always to be understood, 
f Humboldt, Pers, Narr. vol. iv. pp. 12—27. 



130 



COLOMBIA. 



the 15th of .January, an eruption, which lasted six 
days, enlarged its extent, and elevated it to the height 
of fifty fathoms above the sea. This new land, of 
which formal possession was taken in the name of the 
British Government, was 900 toises in diameter. It 
received the name of Sabrina Island, — a name not 
less ominous than appropriate : Sabrina has again 
descended " to Amphitrite's bower," — the island has 
been again swallowed up by the ocean.* u When we 
consider geologically," remarks M. Humboldt, u the 
basin of the Caribbean Sea and of the Gulf of Mexico, 
we find it bounded, on the south, by the littoral chain 
of Venezuela and the Cordilleras .of Merida and Pam- 
plona ; on the east, by the mountains of the West 
India Islands and the Alleghany range ; on the west, 
by the Mexican Andes and the Stony Mountains ; 
and on the north, by the very inconsiderable elevations 
which separate the Canadian lakes from the rivers 
that flow into the Mississippi. More than two-thirds 
of this basin are covered with water. It is bordered 
by two ranges of active volcanoes : to the east, in the 
Caribbee Islands, between the parallels of 13° and 16° : 
to the west, in the Cordilleras of Nicaragua, Guati- 
mala, and Mexico, between those of 11° and 20°. 
When we reflect, that the great earthquake of Lisbon, 
of the 1st of November, 1755, Avas felt almost at 
the same moment on the coasts of Sweden, at Lake 
Ontario, and at Martinique, it will not appear too 
daring a supposition, that all this basin of the West 
Indies, from Cumana and Caracas to the plains of 

* Humboldt, vol. iv. p. 7- This was the third time that sub- 
marine volcanoes had presented this extraordinary spectacle ; and 
the small ephemeral island of 1720, reached the same elevation as 
that of 1811. 



COLOMBIA* 131 

Louisiana, may be simultaneously agitated by com- 
motions proceeding from the same centre of action." 

The moral, or, rather, political effects of the earth- 
quake of 1812, were scarcely less disastrous than the 
actual destruction of life which, it occasioned. The 
provinces of Venezuela had, on the 11th of July,' 
1811, by a public declaration of independence, thrown 
off the yoke of Spain. On the 23d of December, the 
new constitution had been agreed to by the congress, 
and its first session was to have been held at Valen- 
cia in March 1812. The cause wore at this period 
every appearance of prosperity. At the very moment 
of the earthquake, a battalion of troops under Colonel 
Xalon, stationed at Barquesimeto, were preparing to 
march in order to attack the royalists of Coro, when 
the barracks were thrown down, and a great part of 
the soldiers were buried under the ruins, their com- 
mander being severely wounded. The clergy of Ca- 
racas, who had been shorn of some of their privileges 
by the new constitution, immediately proclaimed that 
the earthquake was an evidence of the wrath of the 
Almighty."* A universal panic seized the minds of 
the people, and, unable to withstand the tide of public 
opinion which now set in against them, the congress 
adjourned their sessions. Miranda, on whom the 
supreme command of the army had devolved, found 
himself obliged to capitulate, — on honourable terms, 
indeed, but which were most atrociously violated by 

* Two hundred and seventy-nine years before (A.D. 1533), the 
sudden overflowing of the Cotopaxi had struck terror into the 
Indians at the period of the arrival of the Spaniards, and the con- 
quest of Quito was facilitated by the convulsion of nature. A 
panic terror, excited by the formal excommunication of the insur- 
gents, is also believed to have paralysed the operations of Hidalgo 
in the first revolutionary movements in Mexico.— See Mod. Trav. 
Mexico, vol. i. p. 105, 



132 



COLOMBIA. 



the royalists. Cumana and Barcelona submitted in 
consequence to the authority of the infamous Monte- 
verde, and the old government was without difficulty 
completely re - established throughout Venezuela. 
Every gaol was filled with the patriots, and the 
horrible atrocities acted in Caracas, with the avowed 
object of intimidating the insurgents throughout the 
Spanish colonies, led to that re-action which has hap- 
pily issued in the establishment of the national inde- 
pendence.* 

STATE OF SOCIETY IN CARACAS. 

We have naturally been led to anticipate in some 
degree the history of that sangninary struggle which 
has given liberty to Colombia ; but we must now re- 
vert to the state and aspect of Caracas at the period 
of Baron Humboldt's travels in the equinoctial re- 
gions. He passed two months in this capital. De- 
scribing the manners of the inhabitants, he remarks, 
that in no part of Spanish America had civilisation 
assumed a more European physiognomy than in Ve- 
nezuela and Cuba. " The great number of Indian 
cultivators in Mexico and New Granada, have im- 

* " After the recital of so many calamities," says M. Humboldt, 
in concluding the melancholy detail of the effects of the earth- 
quake, '* it is soothing to repose the imagination on consolatory 
remembrances. When the great catastrophe of Caracas was known 
in the United States, the congress, resembled at Washington, 
unanimously agreed, that five ships laden with flour should be 
sent to the coast of Venezuela, to be distributed among the poorest 
inhabitants. So generous a supply was received with the warmest 
gratitude ; and this solemn act of a free people, this mark of a 
national interest, of which the increasing civilisation of our old 
Europe displays but few recent examples, seemed to be a valuable 
pledge of the mutual benevolence that ought for ever to unite the 
nations of both Americas." 



COLOMBIA. 



133 



pressed on 4 those countries a peculiar, I might almost 
say exotic, character. Notwithstanding the increase 
of the black population, we seem to be nearer Cadiz 
and the United States at Caracas and the Havannah, 
than in any other part of the New World. Caracas 
being situated on the continent, and its population 
being less mutable than that of the islands, the na- 
tional manners have been better preserved than at the 
Havannah. Society does not present very animated 
and varied pleasures ; but that feeling of comfort is 
experienced in domestic life, which leads to uniform 
cheerfulness and cordiality, united to politeness of 
manners. 

u There exists," he adds, " at Caracas, as in every 
place where a great change in the ideas of men is pre- 
paring, two races, we might say two distinct genera- 
tions. One, of which but a small number remains, 
preserves a strong attachment to ancient customs, 
simplicity of manners, and moderation in their de- 
sires. America appears to them a property conquered 
by their ancestors. Abhorring what is called the 
enlightened state of the age,* they carefully preserve 
hereditary prejudices as a part of their patrimony. 
The other class, less occupied with the present than 
with the future, have a propensity, often ill-judged, 
for new habits and ideas. When this tendency is 
allied to the love of solid instruction, restrained and 
guided by a strong and enlightened reason, its effects 
become beneficial to society. I knew at Caracas, 
among the second class, several men equally dis- 

* When, in June 1816, the Spanish general Morillo entered 
Bogota, every person, of either sex, capable of reading or writing, 
was treated as a rebel. Six hundred Creoles were hanged or shot, 
many of whom had never borne arms, but were guilty of science 
or literature — -See Robinson's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 224. 
PART I. I 

! 

I 



134 



COLOMBIA. 



tinguished by their taste for study, the mildness of 
their manners, and the elevation of their sentiments.* 
I have also known men who, disdaining all that is 
excellent in the character, the literature, and the 
arts of the Spaniards, have lost their national indivi- 
duality, without having acquired from their con- 
nexions with foreigners, any just ideas of the real bases 
of happiness and social order. 

" I found in several families at Caracas, a taste for 
instruction, a knowledge of the master -pieces of French 
and Italian literature, and a particular predilection 
for music, which is cultivated with success, and which, 
as it always happens in the pursuit of the fine arts, 
serves to bring the different classes of society nearer 
to each other. The mathematical sciences, drawing, 
painting, cannot here boast of any of those establish- 
ments with which royal munificence, and the pa- 
triotic zeal of the inhabitants, have enriched Mexico. 
In the midst of the marvels of nature, so rich in pro- 
ductions, no person on this coast was devoted to the 
study of plants and minerals. In a convent of St. 
Francis alone I met with a respectable old gentleman,-}- 
who calculated the almanack for all the provinces of 
Venezuela, and who possessed some precise ideas on 
the state of modern astronomy. Our instruments in- 
terested him deeply; and one day, our house was filled 
with all the monks of St. Francis, begging to see a 
dipping-needle. The curiosity that dwells on physical 

* ff It appeared to me, that a strong tendency toward the study 
of the sciences prevailed at Mexico and Bogota ; more taste for 
literature and whatever can charm an ardent and lively imagina- 
tion, at Quito and Lima ; more accurate notions of the political 
relations of countries, and more enlarged views on the state of 
colonies and their mother countries, at the Havannah and Caracas." 

f Father Puerto. 



COLOMBIA. 



135 



phenomena is augmented in countries undermined by 
volcanic fires, and in a climate where nature is at 
once so overwhelming and so mysteriously agitated. 

" When we remember that, in the United States 
of North America, newspapers are published in small 
towns with not more than 3,000 inhabitants, we may 
be surprised to learn, that Caracas, with a population 
of 40 or 50,000 souls, possessed no printing-office before 
1806; for we cannot give this name to the presses 
which served only from year to year to print a few pages 
of an almanack, or the pastoral letter of a bishop. The 
number of those who feel the want of reading, is not 
very considerable, even in the Spanish colonies most 
advanced in civilisation ; but it would be unjust to 
attribute to the colonists what was the effect of a 
jealous policy. A Frenchman, M. Delpeche, allied 
to one of the most respectable families* in the coun- 
try, has the merit of having first established a printing- 
office at Caracas. It appears sufficiently extraordinary 
in modern times, to see an establishment of this kind, 
affording the greatest means of communication be- 
tween men, follow, and not precede, a political revo- 
lution. 

6 4 In a country that presents such enchanting views, 
and at a period when, notwithstanding some symptoms 
of popular commotions, the greater part of the inhabit- 
ants seem only to direct their thoughts toward phy- 
sical objects, the fertility of the year, the long drought, 
or the conflict of the two winds of Petare and Catia, 
I believed that I should find many persons well ac- 
quainted with the lofty surrounding mountains. My 
expectations, however, were not realised ; we could 
not discover at Caracas a single person who had visited 



* " The family of Montillas." 



136 



COLOMBIA. 



the summit of the Silla. The hunters do not climb so 
high on the ridges of mountains ; and no journeys are 
undertaken in these countries to gather alpine plants, 
to carry a barometer to an elevated spot, or to exa- 
mine the nature of rocks. Accustomed to a uniform 
and domestic life, they dread fatigue and sudden 
changes of climate. It would seem as if they live not 
to enjoy life, but only to prolong its duration." 

The inhabitants of Caracas generally, are pro« 
nounced by Mr. Semple superior in quickness of per- 
ception, activity, and intelligence, to the inhabitants 
of most of the other towns in the province. But, he 
adds, " the great want of a solid education, and the 
blind subjection to an ignorant priesthood, render all 
these natural advantages of small avail. That high 
Spanish sense of honour which reigns in some breasts^ 
is, in too many others, supplanted by a mere blustering 
appearance, which ends only in falsehood and deceit. 
Even this hollowness is not always covered by mild 
manners or a plausible exterior ; and high examples 
may be seen of great rudeness joined to great insin- 
cerity." The women, this Traveller describes as, 
upon the whole, handsome, sprightly, and pleasing, 
" They are uniformly kind and affable in their man- 
ners ; and whatever faults an Englishman may fre- 
quently observe in their domestic conduct, these are 
not more than may be traced in the manners of Old 
Spain. In them, the Spanish character appears, per- 
haps, with less alteration than among the men." 
M. Depons paints them in still more vivid colours, 
styling them mild, tender, and seductive ; with jet- 
black hair, alabaster skins, eyes large, and finely 
shaped, and carnation lips ; they are generally below 
the middle size. u Their attire," he says, " is rather 
elegant. They feel a kind of vanity on being taken 



COLOMBIA. 



137 



for French, but, whatever resemblance there may be 
in the dress, there is too little in the gait, the step, 
and too little grace, to permit the illusion to subsist." 
Their education is limited to learning a number of 
prayers, reading badly, spelling worse, and playing by 
rote a few tunes on the guitar and piano-forte. Their 
principal morning occupation is going to mass, and a 
great portion of the rest of the day they pass at their 
windows. 44 In spite, however, of their defective 
education," adds the French Traveller, " the women 
of Caracas know how to unite social manners with 
decent behaviour, and the art of coquetry with the 
modesty of their sex." In this city, as in most others, 
there is a degraded and abandoned class. " More 
than 200 unfortunates pass the day, covered with 
rags, in the recesses of ruins, and never go out but at 
night, to draw from vice the gross subsistence of the 
morrow. Their dress is a white petticoat and veil," 
(the dress of slaves, all respectable females wearing 
black,) " with a pasteboard hat covered with silk, to 
which is attached a tuft of tinsel and artificial 
flowers." 

" The class of domestic slaves in Caracas," says 
M. Depons, u is considerable. A man thinks himself 
rich only in proportion to the number of slaves in his 
house. It is necessary that he should have about him 
four times as many servants as their work requires ; 
without which a littleness is manifested, that announces 
a poverty which all hide as well as they can. A white 
woman of moderate fortune goes to mass on church 
days with two female negroes or mulattoes in her 
suite, though she does not possess in other property 
an equivalent capital. Those who are notoriously 
rich are followed by four or five servant women, and 
there remain as many more for each white of the same 
I 2 



138 



COLOMBIA. 



house who goes to another church. There are families 
in Caracas with twelve and fifteen female servants, 
exclusive of the footmen in the service of the men. 
The most effectual mode of lessening the injury which 
this species of luxury does to the labourers of the 
country, would be to impose on each superfluous 
domestic a tax heavy enough to reduce the number. 
If vanity should prefer to pay rather than to give up, 
the product employed in some public establishment 
would compensate society for the loss of their 
labour. 

" It is probable, that there is not in the whole 
"West Indies, a city where there are so many freed 
persons, or descendants from them, in proportion to 
the other classes, as in Caracas. 

44 They there exercise all those handicrafts that the 
whites despise. Every one who is a carpenter, joiner, 
cabinet-maker, mason, blacksmith, locksmith, tailor, 
shoemaker, goldsmith, &c, is, or was, a freedman. 
They excel in none of these trades, because, learning 
them mechanically, they constantly offend against 
their principles. Besides, indolence, w T hich is in their 
nature, extinguishes in them that emulation to which 
the arts owe all their progress. Yet, the carpenter's and 
mason's work is tolerably regular ; but cabinet- making 
is still in its infancy. All these artisans, depressed 
by an indifference that seems more peculiar to their 
race, but generally attaches to the soil they inhabit and 
the nation with which they are associated, work but 
very little ; and what appears in some degree contra- 
dictory, is, that they work much cheaper than Euro- 
pean artificers. They exist but by means of the 
greatest sobriety, and in the midst of all sorts of 
privations. In general, overloaded with children, 
they live heaped together in miserable shells, where 



COLOMBIA. 



139 



tliey have- for their whole bed nothing but an ox -hide, 
and for sustenance only the provisions of the country. 
The exceptions are very rare. 

" In this state of poverty, no kind of work can 
be required but they instantly demand an advance. 
The smith never has either iron or coal. The car- 
penter never has wood — even for a table. They must 
have money to buy some. All have always the wants 
of a family, which he who orders their work must 
satisfy. Thus you begin by tying yourself to the 
workman you employ, and making yourself dependent 
upon him. It is no longer possible to threaten his 
sloth with applying to another, with whom, besides, 
the very same inconvenience would take place. The 
only resource, then, is that of pressing and superin- 
tending the work ; and, in spite of all these attentions, 
there are always indispositions, journeys, festivals, 
which exhaust the patience of the most phleg- 
matic. One is then very badly, or, assuredly, very 
slowly served. 

" It is easy to perceive that this torpor in the 
trades-people arises only from their aversion to labour. 
In truth, the major part never recollect that they have 
a trade, till they are pressed by hunger. The reign- 
ing passion of this class of men is, to pass their lives in 
religious exercises. They form exclusively corps of 
the various fraternities. There are few churches 
which have not one or more, all composed of free 
people of colour. Each has its uniform, which differs 
from the others only in colour. It is a kind of robe, 
closed like the habit of a monk, the colour of which 
varies according to the brotherhood it belongs to. Some 
are of blue, some red, or black, &c. The fraternities 
assist at processions and burials. The members march 
in order, preceded by their banner. They gain by 



140 



COLOMBIA. 



this nothing but the pleasure of being seen in a habit 
they believe commanding. They have one, however, 
on which they lavish peculiar care ; it is that of Alta 
Gracia. Every free man of colour makes a sort of osten- 
tatious display of this dress, and of the neatness and 
riches of the church of the same name. All the 
bearers of rosaries, who traverse the streets from 
night-fall till after nine o'clock, are composed solely 
of freed persons. There is no example of any of these 
persons having thought of cultivating the earth." 

The festivals of the Romish calendar are so multi- 
plied at Caracas, that there are very few days in the 
year in which some saint or virgin does not claim 
a turn in the devotional celebrations of the natives. 
44 The most brilliant acts of these festivals are the 
processions, which always take place in the afternoon. 
The saint, as large as life, is richly dressed. He is 
carried on a table very handsomely decorated, and 
followed, or preceded, by some other saint of the same 
church less sumptuously adorned. A number of 
flags and crosses open the procession. The men walk 
two abreast. Each of the principal persons has in 
his hand a wax taper ; then come the music, the 
clergy, the civil authorities, and, lastly, the women, 
surrounded with a barrier of bayonets. The train is 
always very numerous. The frames of all the win- 
dows in the streets through which the procession 
moves, are ornamented with hangings floating in the 
air, which give to the whole quarter an air of festi- 
vity that exhilarates. The windows themselves are 
adorned with women, who crowd to them from all 
parts of the city to enjoy this exhibition." Fire- 
works, concerts, and dances, conclude, as elsewhere, 
these pious solemnities. In fact, in detailing the 
customs and superstitions of the Spanish Americans, 



COLOMBIA. 



141 



travellers continually fall into the error of describing 
as peculiarities what are common to both hemispheres, 
or to all Roman Catholic countries,* and of con- 
founding what is exotic in civilisation, religion, or 
manners, with what is of indigenous growth. Thus, 
we find M. Depons particularising the custom of the 
siesta, the laws and phrases of Spanish etiquette, and 
other forms and customs which are not more charac- 
teristic of Caracas than of the mother country, or the 
other Spanish and Portuguese colonies. It is, on 
the whole, a dark picture which he draws of the 
state of society. " The Spaniards," he remarks, 
u are, of all people known, those who do the least to 
establish a police for public tranquillity. The sobriety 
which is natural to them, and still more, their phleg- 
matic character, render quarrels and tumults very 
rare. Hence, there is never any noise in the streets of 
Caracas. Every body there is silent, dull, grave. 
Three or four thousand persons go out of church 
without making any more noise than a tortoise walk- 
ing on sand. So many French, restrained by the silence 
divine offices enjoin, would endeavour, whilst quitting 
the church, to obtain some compensation ; — then, 
women and children would make, by their chattering, 
a noise that would be heard a long way. Four 

* It is scarcely worth while, perhaps, to notice, as peculiarities of 
the country, the local or provincial legends which are mixed up 
kwith the various modifications of the Virgin-worship of the Romish 
church. In Caracas, as in Brazil, Our Lady, under a thousand 
various forms of invocation, is the favourite object of worship. 
The two principal idols are, Nuestra Senhora de Copa Cobana, and 
Nuestra Senhora de Soledad, the former belonging to the church of 
San Pablo, the other in the possession of the Franciscans ; each 
famous for working miracles, and having an absurd legend 
attached to the invention of the image. 



142 



COLOMBIA. 



times as many Spaniards do not make the buzzing 
of a wasp. 

" But if the magistrate has nothing to fear from 
boisterous offences, he would fall very short if his 
vigilance were to be on that account less active. 
Assassinations, thefts, frauds, treacheries, demand of 
him steps, investigations, measures capable of putting 
to the proof the most ardent zeal, and baffling the 
most penetrating sagacity. 

"It is a fact, that almost all the assassinations 
which take place in Caracas, are committed by 
Europeans. Those with which the Creoles may be 
accused, are as rare as the thefts that may be imputed 
to the former. The whites, or pretended whites, of the 
country, whom idleness, and all the vices it engenders, 
keep in sottishness and the most abject condition, and 
the freed men, who find it too irksome to live by their 
labour, are the only persons that can be reproached 
with the thefts committed in Caracas. 

" False measures, false weights, adulteration of 
commodities and provisions, are also common offences, 
because these are regarded less as acts of roguery, than 
as proofs of an address of which they are vain." 

The negligence of the civil magistracy was strik- 
ingly exemplified, under the colonial government, by 
the want of all proper regulations for supplying the 
market. " Would one believe," says M. Depons, 
" that the city of Caracas, the capital of provinces that 
might furnish horned cattle to all the foreign pos- 
sessions of America, is herself, many days in the 
year, destitute of butcher's meat ?" — " If filth does 
not accumulate in the streets," he adds, " the fre- 
quency of rain is to be thanked, not the care of the 
police." Mendicity here, as at Mexico and other 



COLOMBIA, 



143 



great cities, puts on the most disgusting and appalling 
form.* 

The principal public amusements of Caracas, besides 
the theatre, are, three tennis-courts, a cock-pit,-|- and 
a few billiard-tables ; the latter are not much fre- 
quented. Gambling, the universal passion of the 
Spaniards, is under some slight check from the police ; 
regulations having been made in 1800 for suppressing 
the practice. u But, for these three or four years," 
says M. Depons, " it has been only the poor who have 
been watched, imprisoned, and fined by the police for 
gaming. Those above the common rank have a tacit 
permission to ruin each other at play, without the 
magistrate's taking offence at it. The Spaniard loves 
only the play that ruins, not the play which amuses." 
— " In Europe," remarks M. Humboldt, " where 
nations decide their quarrels in the plains, we climb 
the mountains in search of solitude and liberty. In 
the New World, the cordilleras are inhabited to the 
height of 12,000 feet ; and thither men carry with 
them their political dissensions and their little and 
hateful passions. Gaming-houses are established on 
the ridge of the Andes, wherever the discovery of 
mines has led to tho foundation of towns ; and in 
those vast solitudes, almost above the region of the 

* As the description of the state of society in the other Spanish- 
American capitals will in great measure apply to Caracas, we may 
refer our readers for further information to Mexico, vol. i. pp. 249, 
281, 304. Brazil, vol. i. pp. 4, 101, &c. ; vol. ii. p. 313. 

f Cock-pits formed a branch of the public revenue. One only 
was allowed in every town, which was rented of the crown. The 
proceeds fiom farming the cock-pits, as well as from the licenses to 
sell guarapo, (an intoxicating liquor, made from the fermentation 
of coarse sugar and water,) were appropriated to the maintenance 
of the hospital of St. Lazarus at Caracas. — Depons, vol. ii. 
p. 127. 



144 



COLOMBIA. 



clouds, in the midst of objects fitted to elevate the 
thoughts, the news of a decoration or a title refused by 
the court, often disturbs the happiness of families." 

M. Depons has furnished us with a detail of the 
various sources of revenue of which, under the old 
system, the government availed itself. Most of these 
are the same as were employed in the other colonies. 
The principal are, — 

The alcavala,* which produced about - • 400,000 dollars. 



The maritime alcavala (paid on entering 

and clearing from the ports) 150,000 

The alnwxar if azgo (customs) 200,000 

The armada and armadiUa (levied to 
meet the expense of armed coasting 

vessels) 50,000 

Duties of the consulate and anchorage 

Tafias (levied on distillers) 32,000 

Pidperia licenses 30,000 

Composition and confirmation of lands 10,000 

Ferry-boat on the Apure 300 

Lances (produced by new patents of 

nobility) 3,500 

Royal ninths (of the tithes) 

Indian capitation-tax 30,000 

Sale of offices 7*000 

Stamped paper «••• 20,000 

Fifth of the mines 50 

Salt-works • 14,000 

Corso (another port duty) 150,000 

Sale of tobacco 700,000 

Sale of bulls 26,000 



This last item requires explanation, and it will 
serve to illustrate the religious condition of the people. 

* This tax, originally granted to the kings of Spain in the year 
1342, as a supply towards the expenses of the war against the 
Moors, was established in Mexico in 1574, and extended to Peru in 
1591. In Terra Firma, it was for a long time fixed at two per 
cent, but, about the middle of the last century, was raised to five. 
It is levied on every sale and transfer. — See Mod. Trav. Mexico^ 
vol. i. p. 97. 



COLOMBIA. 145 

The bulls in question were, originally, bulls of dis- 
pensation for those Spaniards who engaged in, the 
wars against the infidels. Their object has long been 
lost sight of, but the bulls have continued to arrive 
from Rome, and to be sold in Spain. " The blessings 
they afford are too precious, and the revenue the 
exchequer draws from them is too useful to be 
renounced. It is true that time, which alters or per- 
fects every thing, has caused the popes to give to these 
bulls, virtues which they did not at first possess. At 
this day, four kinds of bulls are acknowledged ; the 
general bull for the living, the bull for eating milk, 
the bull for the dead, and the bull of composition. 

" The first, which lasts for two years, ought to be 
taken by every Spanish Christian, or other resident 
within the Spanish domains. The benefits of this bull 
are general. They extend to the particular objects of the 
other three kinds, though in a manner less direct ; 
hut its virtues are so pre-eminent that I cannot ex- 
cuse myself from enumerating some. Every person 
who has this bull, may be absolved, by any priest 
whatsoever, of all, even concealed crimes. Obstinate 
and confirmed heresy is the only exception ; an of- 
fence, however, that cannot be even suspected, because 
he who should be tainted with it, would set but little 
value on absolution. The possessors of this bull, their 
domestics, and relations, have, during the time the 
churches are shut up, a right to hear mass, receive 
the sacraments, and be buried in holy ground. With 
this bull the priest may say mass, and the lay person 
hear it, one hour before day, and one after twelve- 
There are, however, some authors who insist that 
this point cannot be granted, but by the commissary- 
general of the crusade. Every confessor may release 
him who has this bull from all kinds of vows, except* 

PART II. K 



146 



COLOMBIA. 



ing those of chastity, becoming a priest, monk, or 
nun, and that of making a voyage to the Holy 
Land. Blasphemies against the Deity are no more 
able to resist the power of this bull, than a spot of oil 
upon linen can resist soap. By means of this bull are 
gained, in America, the indulgences which visiting 
the churches obtained in Rome. One single day of 
fasting, and a few prayers, are worth to the possessor 
of this bull fifteen times fifteen forties, or 9,000 of the 
penances imposed upon him. On fast-days, the lay 
person may eat of every thing, meat excepted, pro- 
vided he has the bull. It even allows of meat, if the 
least weakness of constitution, or any other slight in- 
disposition, should occasion any apprehension for his 
health. Since the 1st of January, 1804, it dispenses 
with fasting on Fridays, and for almost the whole of 
Lent. Whoever takes and pays for two bulls for the 
living, obtains double the advantages of one. 

" All the faithful, excepting ecclesiastics, from 
whom the church has a right to expect greater exacti- 
tude in the observance of her laws, have permission 
by the general bull for the living, to eat milk and 
eggs during Lent. It was necessary then, in order to 
exempt them from the prohibition of these articles 
during that period, to establish a special bull. This 
is the exact and only purpose of the bull de laitage. 
All ecclesiastics, under sixty years of age, ought to 
purchase it, independently of that of the living, if they 
wish not to provoke the wrath of Heaven, by trans- 
gressing the laws of the church respecting eggs and 
milk. 

" The bull for the dead is a species of ticket for 
admission into paradise. It enables to clear the de- 
vouring flames of purgatory, and conducts directly to 
the abodes of the blessed. But one of these bulls 



COLOMBIA. 



147 



serves for only one soul. Therefore, the instant a 
Spaniard expires, his relations send to the treasury 
to buy a bull for the dead, on which is written the 
name of the deceased. When the family of the de- 
parted is so poor as to be unable to pay for the bull, 
that is to say, when they are reduced to the most 
abject misery, two or three of its members detach 
themselves, and go begging through the streets to 
obtain the means of making the purchase. If their 
zeal is not crowned with success, they shed tears and 
utter shrieks of lamentation, expressive less of regret 
for the death of their relation, than of pain for their 
inability to furnish his soul with this essential pass- 
port.* The virtue of this bull is not confined to dis- 
pensing with the obligation of going into purgatory, 
but extends to extricating the soul, which, like the 
asbestos, is whitening in its flames. It has the faculty 

* «* I have more than once," says M. Lavaysse, " heard the 
poor in this country lament and utter the most frightful shrieks at 
the death of their relations. The grief for their loss was trifling 
in comparison with that which they felt from knowing that they 
were in purgatory for want of this trifling sum for delivering them. 
They run about in every direction, begging alms with tears, in 
the hope of procuring as much money as may enable them to buy 
bulls for releasing the souls of their relations from purgatory. I 
have more than once had the happiness of calming their grief, 
relieving a soul from that state, contributing to the comforts of a 
Spanish priest, and attracting to myself a thousand benedictions, 
for a quarter of a dollar. Yet, let it not be supposed that these 
bulls and indulgencies supersede the saying of masses for the dead. 
In all the churches of this country, there are pictures representing 
heaven and purgatory. In a corner of the picture is a priest 
saying mass ; at the side are people giving money for the celebra- 
tion of mass, and souls starting out of purgatory when masses have 
been said for them. They are received by the archangel St. Michael, 
who is depicted holding a pair of scales in his hand, one of which 
is full of the money for the masses, and appears to sink, while the 
red-hot souls, like boiled lobsters, throw themselves into the other 
scale, from which they fly to heaven."— Lavaysse, pp. 159, 160. 



148 



COLOMBIA. 



even to designate the spirit it is wished to liberate. It 
is enough to write upon the bull the name of the 
person it animated in this lower world, and that very 
moment the gates of paradise are opened for him. 
One bull must always be taken for each soul ; they 
may, however, take as many as they please, provided 
they do but pay. With piety and money it would 
be easy to empty purgatory, which indeed would not 
long remain unpeopled, because death, whose harvests 
never cease, would at every instant renew its inhabitants. 

" The bull of composition is, without doubt, that 
whose effects are the most sensible, the nearest, and 
most remarkable. It has the inconceivable virtue of 
transmitting to the withholder of another's goods, the 
absolute property in all he has been able to steal 
without the cognizance of the law. For its validity 
they require only one condition, which is, that the 
expectation of the bull did not induce the theft. 
Modesty has done well to add, that of not knowing 
the person to whom the stolen goods belong; but, 
from the cases specified for its application, it appears 
that this last condition is illusive; for, in a volume 
on the virtue of bulls, printed at Toledo in 1758, by 
order of the commissary -general of the holy crusade, 
we find that the bull of composition befriends those 
who hold property they ought to return to the church, 
or employ in works of piety, or which they have not 
legally acquired by the prayers of which it was the 
price. It aids those debtors who cannot discover their 
creditors, or when the conditions of the loan are 
oppressive ; and assists the heir who retains the whole 
of an inheritance loaded with legacies, were it in favour 
of a hospital. If a demand has not been made with- 
in a year, the bull of composition decrees to its pos- 
sessor a moiety of the debt ; but he is required to 



COLOMBIA. 



149 



pay the residue. It bestows the entire right on those 
who do not know the owner of that which they have 
obtained unjustly. Thus a watch, a diamond, a purse 
full of gold, stolen in the midst of a crowd, becomes 
the property of the pick-pocket who has niched it. 
Finally, it quiets the remorse of conscience of the 
merchant who has enriched himself by false yards, 
false measures, and false weights. The bull of com- 
position assures to him the absolute property in what- 
ever he obtains by modes that ought to have conducted 
him to the gallows. The party himself values the 
article which he is desirous of acquiring by means 
of the bull of composition, and has to purchase as 
many bulls as are necessary to make up their price, 
which is fixed at an equivalent to six per cent of the 
capital he wishes to retain. Only fifty bulls a year 
can, however, be taken by one person. If the amount 
of what they cost does not complete the six per cent 
of that which is withheld, recourse must be had to the 
most illustrious commissary -general of the holy crusade. 
He may extend the permission as much as he pleases, 
and even reduce the duty. No bull has any virtue till it is 
paid for, and the name and surname of the person on 
whose account it is issued, are written at full length in 
the blank which is left in the printed form. The bulls of 
the holy crusade are in Spanish, upon a sheet of very 
common paper, in demi-gothic letters, and wretchedly 
printed. Every two years, a new bull of the crusade 
is published with great pomp and solemnity at Caracas. 
The ceremony is performed in the cathedral on St. 
John's day ; in the other churches, on that of St. Michael. 
The bulls are at first placed in the church of the 
nuns of the Conception. All the clergy, constituted 
authorities, and people, come in triumph to seek 
them, in order to remove and place them in the cathe- 



150 



COLOMBIA. 



dral, upon a table magnificently decorated. High 
mass is then performed, after which there follows 
a sermon entirely devoted to setting forth the infinite 
blessings of the bull. At this festival, the com- 
missary-general of the holy crusade, who is usually 
a canon, occupies the first place* It has been so long 
transmitted to him, that under the perplexity of 
deciding whether he ought to relinquish it to the 
bishop, it has been found more convenient to advise 
the prelate not to assist at the celebration. Mass 
being finished, all the faithful approach the table on 
which the bulls are laid, that each may obtain one 
proportioned to his abilities and to his rank ; for the 
price of the bulls varies according to the opulence and 
situation of those by whom they are taken. They are 
nevertheless, notwithstanding the difference of price, 
of equal virtue, provided there has been no fraud. He 
who takes a bull of a price inferior to that which 
his fortune or rank require that he should procure, 
enjoys none of the advantages attached to it. 

" You here have the latest duty imposed on the 
bull of the crusade. 6 The price is a little raised, 5 says 
the commissary-general of the crusade in his man- 
date, dated at Madrid on the 14th of September, 
1801, ' but it is on account of the new expenses of 
government, and of the necessity of extinguishing 
the royal certificates which the scarcity of money in a 
time of war has compelled the king to issue.' "* 

The prices of these bulls varied according to the 
rank of the purchaser. Thus, the general bull for 
the living cost a viceroy or his wife fifteen dollars ; 
archbishops and all other dignitaries, noblemen, mili- 
tary men, magistrates, and gentlemen whose fortune 

* Depons' Travels, vol. ii. pp. 130—6. 



COLOMBIA. 



151 



amounted to 12,000 dollars, paid five dollars ; capi- 
talists of 6,000 dollars paid one dollar and a half ; and 
all inferior persons, two and a half reals. For the 
bull de laitage, the four degrees of. clergy Avere 
severally rated at six, three, one and a half dollars, 
and three reals. For the bull of composition, every 
one, without exception, paid two dollars and a half. 
The px*ice of the bull for the dead was six reals to the 
first three classes above specified, and two reals for the 
lowest class. 

The average net receipts of the intendancy of 
Caracas for the years 1793 to 1797, was 1,369,550 
dollars : the expenditure, estimated by the average of 
the same five years, was 1 ,485,793 dollars, leaving a 
deficiency of receipts to the amount of upwards of 
116,000 dollars; so that this colony was an actual 
burden to the mother country. In 1304, the gross 
revenue amounted to 1,800,000 dollars ; but the whole 
receipts were consumed by the expenses of administra- 
tion. The same was the case with regard to the 
captain -generalships of Guatemala, Chili, Cuba, the 
Philippine and the Canary Islands.* M. Lavaysse, 
indeed, states, that the intendant of Caracas received 
annually about 1,200,000 dollars from the treasuries 
of Mexico and New Granada. " Thus," he says, 
i\ the expenses of that government amounted annually 
to nearly 750,000/. ; for, of all the imposts levied 
in that country, not a farthing passed into the royal 
treasury of Spain." This writer states the average 

* Three millions and a half of dollars, being nearly a sixth of 
the whole revenue, were annually remitted by Mexico to other 
Spanish colonies (viz. Cuba, Florida, Porto Rico, Louisiana, 
Trinidad, St. Domingo, and the Philippine Islands), towards the 
expenses of their internal administration. — See Humboldt, Pol. 
Essay, vol. Iv. pp. 234, 240 ; Depons, vol. ii. pp. 149, 50. 



COLOMBIA. 



value of the agricultural produce annually exported 
from the provinces of Venezuela to Spain and Mexico, 
up to 1807, at about 2,000,000 of dollars ; but " I am 
sure," he adds, " that the smugglers carried off 
annually, on an average, more than 2,500,000 in 
produce, consisting of cocoa, cotton, indigo, a little 
cochineal, arnotto, woods for dyeing and cabinet- 
makers, copper, hides, maize, salted and smoked meat 
and fish, oxen, horses, mules, asses, monkeys, parrots, 
&c., and, since 1801, a small quantity of sugar and 
coffee,* besides about 6 or 700,000 dollars in specie. 
This increases the exports to about 5,200,000 dollars. 
The official statements of the intendancy of Caracas -f 
specified the importations, including the contraband 
trade, at only 5,500,000 dollars at the same period ; 
but those statements are far below the truth. On an 
average, from 1789 to 1807, the annual importations 
amounted to nearly 6,500,000 dollars, including 
smuggling. Previously to the French Revolution, we 
had half of this trade. The French merchants of 
Martinique, the Dutch of St. Eustacia and Curacoa, 
the Danish of St. Thomas's, and the Swedish of 
St. Bartholomew, had their share in this commerce. 
But, since the Island of Trinidad was taken by the 
British in 1797, they have obtained all the trade 
of that country, where they have established com- 

* " Ten years ago," M. Lavaysse says, " there was scarcely as 
much sugar made as sufficed for the local consumption. I believe 
I do not exaggerate when I say, that, on an average, every indivi- 
dual, poor or rich, consumes at least one pound of it per day. It 
is mixed with almost all kinds of food and drink, and is indis- 
pensable for chocolate, which is taken three or four times a 
day." 

f Though Caracas was governed by a captain-general, who was 
the supreme authority in all civil and military affairs, the inten- 
dant had the direction of all financial concerns, 



COLOMBIA. 



153 



mercial connexions even as far as the central point of 
South America, in Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of 
New Granada, whose bishop, a dealer in human flesh, 
carried on, in 1788 and 1789, the negro trade, 
in conjunction with an English house at Dominica." * 
The town of Caracas was founded by Diego de 
Losada in 1567*i~ ^ ne Spaniards, who were attracted 
thither by the reputation of the two gold-mines of Los 
Teques and Baruta, were not at that time masters 
of the whole valley, and they preferred fixing on a site 
near the road to the coast. It is to be regretted, 
Humboldt thinks, that it was not built further to the 
east, below the junction of the Anauco and the Guayra, 
on that spot near Chacao, where the valley widens 
into an extensive plain. The bishopric of Coro was 
transferred to this city in 1636: J it was made an arch- 
bishopric in 1803. Its climate has been called a 
perpetual spring. " What, indeed," says Humboldt, 
" can we imagine more delightful^ than a temperature 
which, during the day, keeps between 16° and 28.8° 

* Lavaysse, pp. 273, 4 

t Forty-seven years after the foundation of Cumana, thirty-nine 
after Coro, thirty-three after Barcelona, and fifteen after Bar- 
quesimeto. 

$ " In 1636," says Mr. Semple (without, however, citing his 
authority), " the archbishopric (bishopric) of Venezuela was trans- 
ferred from the sandy shores of Coro, to the delightful valley of 
Caracas, by the flight of the dean and chapter, their prelate having 
given them the example many years before. It was not, however, 
until 1693, that this transfer was finally ratified by the Spanish 
government. The inhabitants of Coro protested^jji vain against 
this desertion of their pastor. The pious father, a&gar as regarded 
his own convenience, had good sense and power <jn his side ; but 
justice was certainly on the side of the complainants- The effects 
of this transaction, however, are still felt ; and a deadly animosity 
exists between the two cities, for which, 1 fear, much blood will 
yet be shed." This prediction has been but too fully realised. 
It 2 



154 



COLOMBIA. 



of Reaumur, and at night, between 12.8 C and 14.4°,* 
and which is equally favourable for the cultivation 
of the plantain, the orange-tree, the coffee-plant, the 
apricot, the apple, and corn ? It is to be regretted, 
however, that this temperate climate is generally 
inconstant and variable. The inhabitants complain 
of having several seasons in the course of the same 
day, and of the rapid transitions from one season 
to another. These oscillations are common in the 
temperate clime of Europe ; but, under the torrid 
zone, Europeans themselves are so accustomed to the 
uniform action of exterior stimulus, that they suffer 
from a change of temperature of six degrees. More- 
over, these variations act on the human frame, at 
Caracas, more violently than could be supposed from 
the mere indications of the thermometer. In this 
narrow valley, the atmosphere is in some sort- 
balanced between two winds ; one that comes from 
the sea-side, and is known by the name of the wind of 
Catia, because it blows from Catia to the west of Cape 
Blanco ; and the other from the east, or the inland 
country. The wind of Catia is only apparently a 
western wind : it is more frequently a breeze origi- 
nating in the east and north-east, which, rushing 
with extreme impetuosity, engulfs itself in the que- 
brada (ravine) de Tlpe. It is loaded with moisture, 
which it deposits as its temperature decreases, and 
the summit of the Silla is consequently wrapped in 
clouds when the Catia blows in the valley. This wind 
is dreaded by the inhabitants of Caracas, causing 
headaches to those persons whose nervous system 

* Humboldt states the mean temperature of the year to be from 
21° to 22° cent. ther. : that of the hot season, 24°; of the cold 
season, 19°; the maximum, 29°; the minimum, 11°. At La 
Guayra, the maximum is 35°, and the minimum, 21 c . 



COLOMBIA. 



155 



is irritable. I have known some who, to shun its 
effects, shut themselves up in their houses, as people 
do in Italy when the Sirocco blows. The wind of 
Petare, coming from the east and south-east by 
the eastern extremity of the valley of the Guayra, 
brings from the mountains and the interior a drier 
air, which dissipates the clouds, and the summit of 
the Silla then rises in all its beauty. 

Rains are extremely frequent in the months of 
April, May, and June : they are always brought by 
winds from the east and south-east. Hail occurs 
almost every four or five years. In the season of 
drought (December, January, and February,) the 
savannas and the turf that covers the steepest rocks 
are sometimes set on fire in order to improve the 
pasturage. These vast conflagrations, viewed from a 
distance, have a most singular effect, the inflamed 
tracts appearing, on a dark night, like currents of 
lava. 

The small extent of the valley in which Caracas 
stands, and the proximity of the high mountains 
of Avila and the Silla, impart, Humboldt says, a stern 
and gloomy character to the scenery, particularly in 
the months of November and December. The morn- 
ings are then very fine, and the two domes of the Silla 
and the craggy ridge of the Cerro de Avila are seen 
relieved against a clear and serene sky. But towards 
evening, the atmosphere thickens, and streams of 
vapour, clinging to the evergreen slopes of the moun- 
tains, seem to divide them into separate zones. 
These vapours are afterwards condensed into large 
fleecy clouds, which, descend and creep along the soil, 
so that the traveller can scarcely imagine himself 
to be within the torrid zone. But this gloomy aspect 



156 



COLOMBIA. 



of the sky is never seen in the midst of summer, and 
the nights of June and July are delicious. Of the two 
peaks which form the summit of the Silla, the eastern 
is the most elevated. It was formerly supposed to 
equal very nearly in elevation the Peak of Teneriffe ; 
hut Humboldt ascertained it to he only 1,350 toises, or 
about 8,100 feet above the sea-level, which is 3,300 
feet lower than the Peak of Teneriffe. There is a 
path leading over the ridge of the mountain, near the 
western peak, to Caravalleda, which is frequented by 
smugglers ; but, at the time of Humboldt's visit, 
neither the most experienced guides, nor the most 
intrepid of the militia who were accustomed to pursue 
the smugglers in these wild spots, had ever been 
on the eastern peak. From the hollow between the 
two peaks, which has given the whole mountain the 
name of the Silla (saddle), a crevice, or ravine, 
descends towards the valley of Caracas. The eastern 
summit is accessible only by going to the west of this 
ravine, over the promontory, or spur, called the 
Puerto, de la Silla, and proceeding straight forward 
to the lower summit, not turning to the east till you 
have reached the hollow between the two peaks. 
The first half of the ascent is up a steep acclivity 
of gneiss rock, covered with short grass, or turf, which 
yields but a slippery footing, and the traveller will 
require to have a stick shod with iron : it is attended, 
however, with more fatigue than danger. After pro- 
ceeding for four hours across these " savannas,'* at an 
elevation of 3,000 feet, you enter a little wood of 
snrubs and small trees, called El Pejual, from a plant 
with odoriferous leaves, called pejoa (gualtheria odo- 
rata), with which it abounds. Here, too, are found 
the family of the alpine rhododendrons, thibaudias, 



COLOMBIA. 



157 



andromedas, vacciniums, and bifarias with resinous 
leaves. The latter, the alpine rose-tree* of equinoctial 
America, when in blossom, gives a purple glow to 
the zone of evergreen-trees, as seen from the valley. 
The bees are very fond of its fine purple flowers, 
which are extremely abundant. But what gives 
most celebrity to this small wood, is a corymbiferous 
plant from ten to fifteen feet high, which the natives 
call incienso (incense), on account of the agreeable 
odour of the flowers. It is a species of trims, ex- 
tremely resinous, but differs very much in smell from 
the triocis terebinthinacea of Jamaica. At the end of 
this alpine wood, the traveller finds himself again 
in a savanna, and must climb a part of the western 
peak, in order to descend into the hollow. There he 
encounters fresh difficulties from the strength of the 
vegetation which covers the valley, forming a forest, 
or thicket, of arborescent plants, of the rnusa or plan- 
tain family. These obstacles gradually diminish as 
he begins to climb the barren summit. In order 
to reach the eastern peak, it is necessary to approach 
as near as possible the great precipice that descends 
towards Caravalleda and the coast ; but this part of 
the way " is not at all dangerous, provided that the 
traveller carefully examines the stability of every 
fragment of rock on which he places his foot." The 
absence of large trees on the two rocky summits 

* Rhododendron ferrugineum. The learned Traveller searched in 
vain for any plant of the genus Rosa. « ' We did not," he says, 
" find one indigenous rose-tree in all South America; and it 
appears that this charming shrub is wanting in all the southern 
hemisphere within and beyond the tropics. It was only on the 
Mexican mountains that we were happy enough to discover, under 
the nineteenth parallel, American eglantines." 



153 



COLOMBIA. 



of the Silla, Humboldt ascribes to the aridity of the 
soil, the violence of the winds blowing from the sea, 
and the frequent conflagrations ; as the limit of trees 
in this region is 400 toises still higher. Destitute of 
any other vegetation than small shrubs and gramina, 
these vast domes of rock increase by the nakedness of 
their surface the apparent height of the mountain, 
which, in the temperate zone of Europe, would 
scarcely enter the limit of perpetual snow. But, 
though not remarkable for its height, the Silla is dis- 
tinguished from every known mountain, by the enor- 
mous precipice of from 6 to 7>000 feet which it 
presents towards the sea, — " a phenomenon far more 
rare," says the learned Traveller, u than is generally 
believed by those who cross mountains without 
measuring their height, their bulk, and their slopes. 
The coast forms only a narrow border ; and looking 
from the summit of the dome, or pyramid, on the 
houses of Caravalleda, this wall of rock seems, by an 
optical illusion, to be nearly perpendicular. The real 
slope of the declivity appeared to me, according to an 
exact calculation, to be 53° 28V* Those persons 
whose senses are affected by looking down a con- 
siderable depth, are recommended to remain in the 
centre of the small flat area which crowns the summit. 
From this elevation, the eye gazes on an extent of 
sea, the radius of which is thirty -six leagues. Toward 
the south, a range of mountains running parallel with 
the equator bounds the horizon like a rampart. The 
western dome of the Silla conceals from view the city 

* A rock of 1,500 feet perpendicular elevation has m vain been 
sought for among the Swiss Alps. The declivity of Mont Blanc 
towards the Alice Blanche does not even reach an angle of 45°. 
That of the Peak of Tcneriffe is scarcely 12° 3(V. 



COLOMBIA, 



159 



of Caracas ; but the villages of Chacao and Fet&re 
may be descried in the midst of coffee-plantations, and 
the course of the river Guayra is seen forming a 
slender streak of silvery light. The narrow band of 
cultivated ground presents a pleasing contrast to the 
wild and gloomy aspect of the surrounding mountains. 
M. Humboldt describes, in the following terms, the 
feelings which were excited in his own mind by the 
scenery : it is not every one, however, who possesses 
the same calm and philosophic temperament. 

u While we take in at one view the vast landscape, 
we feel little regret that the solitudes of the New 
World are not embellished with the images of past 
times. Wherever, under the torrid zone, the earth, 
studded with mountains and overspread with plants, 
has preserved its primitive characteristics, man no 
longer appears as the centre of the creation. Far 
from taming the elements, all his efforts tend to an 
escape from their empire. The changes made by 
savage nations during the lapse of ages on the surface 
of the globe, disappear before those that are produced 
in a few hours by the action of volcanic fires, the 
inundations of mighty floods, and the impetuosity of 
tempests. It is the conflict of the elements which 
characterises in the New World the aspect of nature. 
A country without population appears, to the people of 
cultivated Europe, like a city abandoned by its inhabit- 
ants. In America, after having lived during several 
years in the forests of the low regions, or on the 
ridge of the Cordilleras, — after having surveyed 
countries as extensive as France, containing only a 
small number of scattered huts, a deep solitude no 
longer affrights the imagination. We become accus- 
tomed to the idea of a world that supports only plants 
and animals ; where the savage has never uttered 



160 



COLOMBIA. 



either the shout of joy, or the plaintive accents of 
sorrow."* 

FROM CARACAS TO VALENCIA. 

A fine road, partly scooped out of the rock, leads 
along the right bank of the Guayra to the village 
of Antimano, a distance of about two leagues. Be- 
tween three and four miles from Caracas, the small 
village of La Vega, with the white tower of its 
church, is seen picturesquely situated in a recess 
among the hills. It was originally an Indian village, 
but few, if any, of the aboriginal families are remain- 
ing. Ascending toward Carapa, the traveller enjoys 
once more a sight of the Silla, which appears like 
an immense dome with a cliff towards the sea. Be- 
yond the straggling village of Antimano, which, 
Mr. Semple says, is capable of being converted into 
a good military post, " the valley of Caracas narrows 
rapidly, and the space between the hills seldom con- 
sists of more than the flat through which the river 
flows, evincing by its level surface, that, after heavy 
rains, it is frequently covered with water. After 
some time we leave the small heights, and descend 
upon the Guayra, which we cross and recross several 
times," (Humboldt says, seventeen times,) " until 
having passed a little stream which falls into it, we 
approach Las Juntas, a few houses at the foot of the 
mountains. This post" (so named from the junction 
of the two small rivers San Pedro and Macarao, 
which form the Guayra,) "is between three and four 

* Pers. Narr. vol. iii. pp. 511—12. Since Humboldt led the 
way, two young Colombians, sent out by M. Zea to prosecute 
researches in natural history, have ascended the Silla. — See Letter's 
from Colombia, p. 22. 



COLOMBIA. 



161 



leagues from Caracas, and a good pulpena affords the 
traveller the means of rest and refreshment."* 

The rich valley of Caracas which we are now 
leaving, was formerly celebrated for its fertility : it is 
at present " in a state of comparative abandon- 
ment."-!- The orchards of Antimano furnished a 
great abundance of peaches, quinces, and other Euro- 
pean fruits, for the market of the capital. The 
Otaheitan sugar-cane is cultivated here with success, 
but the soil has been found not very favourable to the 
coffee-plant, for the cultivation of which there is a 
general predilection, because the berry will keep, after 
gathering, for several years, whereas cocoa spoils in 
the warehouses after ten or twelve months. The 
largest plantations in this province are near Valencia 
and Bincon. The cultivation of coffee was intro- 
duced into Caracas in 1789, and before the revolu- 
tionary wars, the produce of the whole province 
amounted to 50 or 60,000 quintals. J The banks of 
the Guayra are covered with a fine gramineous plant 
called lata (gynerium saccharoides), which sometimes 
reaches thirty feet in height. Every hut is sur- 
rounded with enormous alligator-pear-trees (laurus 
persea), and the neighbouring mountains are covered 
with thick forests. 

After leaving Las Juntas, the road becomes very 
steep and rocky, crossing part of a groupe of lofty 
mountains called Higuerota, which separate the lon- 
gitudinal valleys of Caracas and Aragua ; " but, as 

* Semple, p. 66. t Letters from Colombia, p. 13. 

t Humboldt, vol. iv. p. 65. The total exportation of coffee 
from America to Europe, is stated to exceed 106,000,000 lb. 
(French). The islands of Java, Mauritius, and Bourbon, and 
Arabia, are supposed to supply together about 35,000,000 more. 



162 



COLOMBIA. 



we ascended," says Mr. Semple, " we were amply- 
repaid by the grandeur of the prospects which every 
step opened to our view. We continued to ascend for 
upwards of four miles, when we reached the summit 
of the first hills which shut in the head of the valley, 
from which we soon after looked back for the last time 
on the town, presenting, at the distance of twenty 
miles, a singularly interesting appearance at the foot 
of lofty mountains. The spot from which this fare- 
well view (or, on approaching from Valencia, this first 
glimpse) of Caracas is obtained, is called Buenavista, 
and is marked by a single miserable venta or inn.* 
The road from thence leads over the high grounds, 
and we find ourselves in the midst of a mountainous 
country, the valleys of which are deep, dark, and 
solitary, without rivers, and the sides in general but 
partially covered with trees. To the south-west, the 
ridges gradually ascend, and terminate in a lofty 
peak, the summit of which appeared like a black spot 
far above the clouds. By degrees, our road led us 
through a wood composed of lofty trees, such as are 
common in the West India Islands ; -j- having got 
clear of which, we at length began to descend into a 

* The table-land of Buena vista is about 5,000 feet above the 
level of the sea, or more than twice the elevation of Caracas, 
which lies to the N.W. On the S.E., the view extends to the 
village of Los Teques. 

f Among the beautiful vegetable productions of these moun- 
tains, Humboldt specifies the plumeria, or red jessamine-tree (the 
frangipanier of the French West India Islands) ; the fiats gigantea, 
a new species of fig-tree, which attains the height sometimes of a 
hundred feet; the ficus nymphmfolia ; the rosa del jyionte, or palo 
de Cruz (brownea), bearing four or five hundred purple flowers in 
one thyrsis, each flower having eleven stamens, and this majestic 
plant reaches the height of fifty or sixty feet ; the guarumo, or 
silvery-leaved cecropia ; the aguaiire, which yields a wood of a fine 
red colour ; and various species of arborescent ferns. 



COLOMBIA. 



163 



valley, near the bottom of which is scattered the 
miserable hamlet of San Pedro, consisting of fifteen 
or twenty houses, with an unfinished church, which, 
however, serves the country for many miles round. A 
clear stream, nearly the size of theGuayra, runs through 
the bottom, near which was fought the great battle 
with the Indian chief Guaytaipuro, which cleared the 
way for the Spaniards to the valley of Caracas.'" Close 
to the stream, is a pulperia, where the traveller may 
obtain boiled meat, cakes of maize, eggs, and guarapo^ 
the favourite drink of the country, made of coarse 
sugar and water. San Pedro is about four leagues 
from Las Juntas, and seven from Caracas. It is 
situated in a basin in which several valleys meet, and 
which is almost 1,800 feet lower than the table -land of 
Buenavista. Bananas, potatoes, and coffee are cul- 
tivated together in the neighbourhood of the village* 
The valley of San Pedro separates the two great 
masses of mountains, Higuerota and Las Cocuyzas.* 
The summit of the latter is scarcely thirty feet lower 
than Buenavista. The road, which leads over ifc^ 
begins to ascend immediately from the banks of the 
river, in a western direction, passing the small farms 
or pulperias of Las Lagunetas and Garavatos. After 
riding about two leagues, the traveller begins to have 
a view of the country on the other side of the chain 
of hills he is traversing ; and soon afterwards, the 
descent commences. The prospect at Las Lagunetas 
is extensive, but somewhat monotonous. - c The 
mountainous and uncultivated ground between the 
sources of the Guayra and the Tuy, is more than 

* The Cocuyzas, which Mr. Semple writes Coucuisas, is said by 
some to derive its name from a tribe of Indians ; but, by others,, 
from the aloes with which it once abounded.— (Ssmple, p. 73.) 
Higuerota is evidently derived from higuero, a fig-tree- 



COLOMBIA. 



twenty -five leagues square. We there found,'* says 
Humboldt, " only one miserable village, tliat of Los 
Teques, to the S.E. of San Pedro. The soil is in a 
manner furrowed by a multitude of small valleys, or 
ravines, which, running parallel with each other, 
terminate at right angles in the larger valleys. The 
back of the mountains is of an aspect as monotonous 
as the ravines : it has no pyramidal forms, no ridges, 
no steep declivities. From Las Lagunetas, we de- 
scended into the valley of the river Tuy. This 
western slope of the mountains of Los Teques, which 
bears the name of Las Cocuyzas, is covered with two 
plants with agave leaves, called the maguey of Co- 
cuyza, and the maguey of Cocuy : the latter, which 
belongs to the genus yucca, yields a sweet fermented 
liquor by distillation, and the fibres of the leases 
furnish excellent cordage. Leaving the mountains, 
we entered a highly cultivated country, covered with 
hamlets and villages, several of which would, in 
Europe, be called towns. From east to west, in a 
line of twelve leagues, we passed La Victoria, San 
Matteo, Turmero, and Maracay, containing together 
more than 28,000 inhabitants. The plains of the 
Tuy may be considered as the eastern extremity of 
the valleys of Aragua, extending from Guigue on the 
borders of the Lake of Valencia, to the foot of Las 
Cocuyzas. The Tuy, flowing from those mountains, 
runs first towards the west ; then, turning to the 
south and east, it takes its direction along the high 
savannas of Ocumare, receives the waters of the valley 
of Caracas, and reaches the sea near Cape Codera." 
The stream here, is rather more considerable than the 
Guayra at Caracas : after its junction with the latter, 
the river becomes navigable for canoes to its mouth. 
Mr. Semple describes the descent to the bed of the 



COLOMBIA, 165 

Tuy as in some places more steep and rugged than 
any in his whole journey, being indeed more difficult 
to pass than the worst between La Guayra and 
Caracas. It is reckoned nearly four leagues from the 
summit to the few scattered houses at the bottom, 
which bear the name of the village of Las Coucuisas 
(Cocuyzas.)* At the pulperia, Mr. Semple met a 
number of Indians and other travellers collected, who 
were proceeding to the capital. " Among the In- 
dians," he says, " were many young women of pleas- 
ing features, who were going together in parties, to 
seek for work in the coffee-plantations, where they 
are employed in picking the berries. They told me 
that, in the low countries, their usual wages were 
about two reals, or one quarter of a dollar per day, 
besides a small quantity of provisions ; but that in 
the high lands of Caracas, they would not work during 
the coffee season under three reals, on account of its 
being there so extremely cold. The men who accom* 
panied them were in general strong and stout, but, 
though large, yet not so well limbed as the Indians of 
North America. Their colour was of a yellowish 
cast, inclining to copper ; their hair long, coarse, and 
black, growing low down upon a narrow forehead; 
the nose at the point suddenly becoming sharp, like 
that of a person worn out by long illness ; the eyes 
black, melancholy, and inexpressive ; the lips thick, 
and the mouth somewhat large. The general air of 

* The Author of Letters from Colombia says : *« We dined at a 
place called Las Alajas (Lagunetas?) commandingly situated on 
this summit, the highest point of the Cordillera. The distance 
hence to Las Coquises (Cocuyzas), named after a species of aloe 
which grows in abundance in its vicinity, is three leagues, but by 
such a steep descent, and so bad a road, resembling more the bed 
of a mountain torrent than the principal communication in the 
country, that it was late ere we reached it." P. 16. 

m 



166 



COLOMBIA. 



these Indians was heavy, sad, and sullen. Some of 
them, while they rested their burthens, amused theuu 
selves by blowing into a species of flute, if it can be 
so called, without doubt one of the rudest ever 
sounded by the human breath. They consisted of 
single joints of cane with one longitudinal opening in 
the side, too long to be covered with the whole palm 
of the hand, when applied to it. They blew into the 
upper part of this aperture, and according as they 
covered more or less of the lower part with their 
hands, was the tone somewhat varied. The sound 
was like that of the wind sighing in the forests, or 
among rocks : sometimes rising almost to a scream, 
and then dying away into a whisper. This alternate 
rise and fall constituted the whole of the music ; 
which, excepting the drum of the negroes, consisting 
of a solid piece of wood, beat by two sticks, was the 
rudest I had ever heard. It seemed, however, to 
afford infinite satisfaction to those for whose ears it 
was designed : they listened in silence, and when the 
performers reached the height of screaming, all eyes 
were turned towards us, to see if we were not yet 
touched by such master-pieces of melody. At length 
the doors of the pulperia opened, and the music 
ceased. 

" Each of these Indians carried a burthen of a great 
weight. They in general consisted of a kind of tall 
round basket, or cage, formed of cane and rushes, 
upwards of six feet in height, with a conical top, and 
divided into five or six stages, full of fowls. I tried to 
lift some of them, and could not estimate their weight 
at less than two hundred English pounds. It is in 
these cages that the Indians bring every kind of fowl 
to market, as well as monkeys and parrots, carrying 
them on their backs, supported by a broad strap which 



COLOMBIA. 



goes over the forehead. In this manner they travel 
over mountains and valleys, more than a hundred 
miles, to Caracas, with poultry. The boys begin with 
small cages, gradually increasing the size and weight, 
until they are able to carry the largest, on which 
point there is great emulation amongst them. 

u Close behind the village runs the river Tuy, in a 
narrow valley, through which is the road to Victoria. 
Here we pass this river, or rather go splashing along 
its bed for about fifty yards, when, after a short ride 
on its bank, Ave pass it again. In this manner we 
cross or wade along the bed of the river, more than 
twenty -five times in the space of two leagues, with 
the water generally up to the girth of the saddle ; 
such is the narrowness of the valley, and the steepness 
of its sides. At some places only, fertile spots have 
been banked in and cultivated ; but no attempt has 
yet been made to form a road along the side of the 
hills, although all the objects of commerce between 
Caracas and the valleys of Aragoa and Valencia pass 
this way. In other points of view, although not 
highly picturesque, the natural beauties of this valley 
are yet sufficient to compensate the traveller for its 
inconveniences. Sometimes the river, divided into 
several channels, runs through among the trees which 
border the sides of the valley ; then, suddenly uniting 
into one, it pours along a clear and rapid stream over 
a bed of smooth, rounded stones. Here and there are 
scattered huge trunks of trees, which have been 
brought down by the torrents, and now form bridges 
over some divisions of the stream. The steep sides 
of the valley are generally green, or covered with 
weeds, amongst which we can notice trees, on which 
are large bosses of plastered earth, the nests of a 
species of ant, furnished with long winding passages 



166 



COLOMBIA. 



of the same material, by which to reach the ground. 
At length the valley widens ; we leave the river, and 
proceeding along the side of the hills on our right, 
enjoy for some time a view of it as it flows amid 
various flourishing plantations. In other parts, it is 
concealed from us by tall feeds or canes, which grow 
along the banks to the height of twenty-five or thirty 
feet, and are swayed to and fro by one impulse of the 
slightest breeze. Not far from this, we arrive at El 
Consejo, sometimes called Mamou, consisting of about 
two hundred poor houses ; but which indicate, by the 
new appearance of many of them, that the place is 
rapidly increasing." 

It is scarcely worth while to mention, perhaps, that 
this village is one of the many which are celebrated 
for possessing a miraculous image of the Virgin. To 
the traveller who comes from the east, and who has 
been accustomed to the moderate temperature of the 
mountain regions, the plains of the Tuy will seem 
extremely hot, the valley of Aragua being 1,200 feet 
lower than that of Caracas ; but the nights are of 
a delicious coolness. Maize, bananas, and the cane 
are the chief articles cultivated. Indigo was formerly 
grown in the Quebrada Seca, a ravine in the chain of 
the coast, to the. N.W. of the hacienda del Tuy; but 
the cultivation of coffee has been substituted for it as 
better adapted to the soil.* The road from Consejo 
to La Victoria runs toward the S. and S. W. We 
soon lose sight of the Tuy, which leads to the E., 
forming an elbow at the foot of the high mountains 

* In this ravine, a monstrous tree (hum crepitans) attracted the 
attention of the learned Traveller ; it lay on the slope of the 
mountain. Though its summit had been burnt, the length of its 
trunk was still 154 feet ; it was eight feet in diameter near the 
roots, and four feet two inches at the upper extremity. 



COLOMBIA. 



169 



of Guayraima. As the valley opens, the ground be- 
comes more level, looking like the bottom of a dry 
lake ; and the cultivation improves as the traveller 
draws near the town. 

" La Victoria," says Mr. Semple, " is a scattered 
town,* situated mostly in a plain, and interspersed 
with gardens and trees ; so that it is not easy to form 
an accurate estimate of its extent, until after tra- 
versing it in every direction, and viewing it from the 
surrounding heights. Some of the principal streets 
contain houses equal to those of Caracas; and the 
general appearance, although irregular, is pleasing, 
conveying the idea of something between a town and 
a very large village. The principal officers of the 
militia of the neighbouring valleys of Aragoa, reside 
here, thus making it as it were a seat of government, 
and contributing materially to form the manners of 
the inhabitants, such as they are. A large plaza, or 
public square, is marked out, but the houses are not 
yet completed. On one side stands the principal 
church, which, although not finished, is, in its inte- 
rior, beyond comparison the most beautiful and best- 
proportioned public edifice that I saw in the whole 
country. Its form is oblong ; and, besides being large 
and lofty, a simplicity reigns throughout the whole, 
which contrasts most favourably with all the other 
churches of the province. This beauty will probably 
vanish, however, in a great degree, with the growing 
prosperity of the town. Its walls and pillars will be- 
come covered with pictures, gilded statues of saints, 

* In 1800, however, La Victoria, with 7>000 inhabitants, still 
ranked only as a village (pueblo). The inhabitants had long solicited 
the title of villa and the right to choose a cabildo, but the Spanish 
ministry opposed their request, though the pompous title of city 
had been granted, at the solicitation of the Franciscans, to a few 
groupes of Indian huts on the Orinoco. 
PART II. L 



170 



COLOMBIA. 



and altars of a great variety of forms, adorned with 
lamps and candlesticks. Yet even then, in my opi- 
nion, the interior of the church of La Victoria will 
remain an honourable monument to the memory of 
the architect by whom it was planned. 

" A river as large as the Tuy runs near the town, 
and supplies abundance of water for the purposes of 
irrigation. The plantations round are in general well 
cultivated; and I here, for the first time, saw the 
spectacle, so novel and so interesting to a European, 
of wheat and the sugar-cane growing close together. 
The wheat, which was still green, appeared as fine as 
any I had ever seen in England, and was not sepa- 
rated, even by the slightest trench, from extensive 
fields of Otaheitan sugar-canes, by which it was 
enclosed. 

u La Victoria was originally a village peopled with 
Indians, whom the missionaries had collected toge- 
ther ; but the goodness of the soil, and the advantages of 
the situation, rapidly collected settlers from every part, 
until very few descendants of the first Indian families 
now remain. The population is about 8,000 souls, 
among which are many Creole families of distinction. 
The love of gaming, so general in all the colonies, is 
here carried to great excess. At the posada where I 
stopped, parties assembled for that purpose from 
morning to night ; and I daily witnessed all the agi- 
tation which this miserable passion excites. The 
most violent quarrels, and even bloodshed, were some- 
times the result ; but in general, the anger of the 
parties was satisfied with horrid imprecations and the 
most desperate threats. 

u Although generally very healthy, La Victoria 
suffered about six years ago from a destructive epi- 
demic disorder, which raged throughout the valleys of 



COLOMBIA. 



171 



Aragoa and the plains of Valencia. Those who were 
taken ill, seldom escaped, and their fate was soon de- 
termined. It frequently commenced its attacks by 
the head ; the patient dropped down without the least 
previous complaint, and sometimes expired in less 
than an hour. So numerous were these instances, 
that persons were employed to go about the streets, to 
collect the bodies of those who died thus suddenly, 
and carry them away for interment. I was shewn a 
servant of the posada, who, being subject to epileptic 
fits, had dropped down in the street, and been carried 
away with the dead. The bodies were arranged in 
the church previously to interment, while the priest 
repeated the usual prayers ; in the middle of which, 
the epileptic man recovered from his trance, and got 
up as suddenly as he had fallen down. The priest 
was disconcerted, and dropped his book ; while the 
congregation, no less alarmed, hurried out of the 
ehurch, or fervently crossed themselves as being un- 
able to move." 

The little river Oalanchas, which traverses this 
town, falls into the Rio Aragua. This fine country, 
therefore, which produces both sugar and corn, be- 
longs to the basin of the lake of Valencia. The 
height of the cultivated ground is from 1,600 to 1,800 
feet above the level of the sea. Except in the inte- 
rior of the Island of Cuba, we scarcely ever find 
European corn cultivated in large quantities in so 
low a region within the tropics. La Victoria and the 
neighbouring village of San Matteo yielded, in 1800, 
an annual produce of 4,000 quintals of wheat. It is 
sown in December, and reaped on the seventieth or 
seventy -fifth day. Wheat yields here, as at Buenos 
Ayres, three or four times as much as in northern coun- 
tries, that is, nearly sixteen-fold, an acre producing 



172 



COLOMBIA. 



from 2,400 to 2,600 lb. weight. Yet, the eulture of 
the sugar-cane is still more productive. Two com- 
mercial roads pass through La Victoria ; that of 
Valencia or Puerto Cabcilo, and that of Villa de Cura, 
or the camino de los Llanos. From the little hill of 
Calvario near the town, the lofty mountains of La 
Palma, Guayraima, Tiara, and Guiripa, are seen 
bounding the view to the south and south-east, and 
concealing the immense steppes of Calabozo. This 
interior chain stretches to the west, along the Lake of 
Valencia, toward the Villa de Cura and the mountains 
of Guigue. Westward, the smiling valleys of Aragua 
form a vast area covered with gardens, cultivated 
fields, clumps of wild trees, farms, and hamlets. The 
latitude of La Victoria is 10° 13' 35" N. The town 
has suffered from the combined effects of the earth- 
quake and the revolution. The remains of a number 
of houses, destroyed by the same calamity that deso- 
lated Caracas, are the traces of the former, while to 
the latter must be ascribed the striking decrease of 
the population. In 1804, it is said to have amounted 
to 7?800 ' i 11 1323, the inhabitants are supposed not 
to have been a third of that number.* 

From La Victoria, it is a distance of about two 
leagues to the small but pleasant village of San Mat- 
teo. The road crosses a small ridge, from which is 
obtained the first view of the Lake of Valencia and 
the grand plain in -which it lies. u This view," says 
Mr. Semple, " may be classed among some of the 
most magnificent in nature. We beheld, at break of 
day, a rich plain extending before us to the westward 
more than fifty miles, a long, regular line at a great 
distance, which marked the lake, and the horizon 



* Letters from Colombia, p. 11. 



COLOMBIA. 173 

bordered with high mountains. After descending 
from this little height, we saw no more of the lake, 
until, after passing the straggling villages of San 
Matteo and Tulmero (Turmero), we approached 
Maracay, when it again appeared not far from us." 
Near San Matteo are seen the last wheat fields, and 
the last mills with horizontal hydraulic wheels. The 
road to Turmero, a distance of four leagues, lies 
through plantations of sugar, indigo, cotton, and 
coffee ; and tobacco is grown near that village. The 
regularity observable in the construction of all these 
villages, reminds the traveller that they all owe their 
foundation to monks and missions. The streets are 
straight and parallel, crossing each other at right 
angles, a great square, in which the church is erected, 
occupying the centre. Since the missionaries have 
been succeeded by vicars, the whites have mingled 
with the Indians, and the latter, as a pure race, gra- 
dually disappear, while the castes increase. Hum- 
boldt still found, however, four thousand tributary 
Indians in the valleys of Aragua. Those of Turmero 
and Guacara were the most numerous. He describes 
them as of small stature, but less squat than the 
Chaymas, their eyes announcing more vivacity and 
intelligence, — the effect, probably, of a higher degree 
of civilisation. w They work by the day as free 
labourers, and are active and laborious during the 
short time that they allot to labour ; but what they 
earn in two months, is spent in one week, in pur- 
chasing strong liquors at the small inns, of which, 
unhappily, the numbers daily increase." On quitting 
Turmero, a very remarkable object at a league's dis- 
tance attracted the attention of the learned Traveller, 
which had the appearance of a tumulus in the horizon. 
" It is neither a hill nor a groupe of trees, but a 
L 2 



174 



COLOMBIA. 



single tree, — the famous Zamang del Guayre^ known 
throughout the province for the enormous extent of 
its branches, which form a hemispheric head 576 feet 
in circumference. The zamang is a fine species of 
mimosa, the tortuous branches of which are divided 
by bifurcation. Its delicate and tender foliage had a 
pleasing effect as displayed on the azure of the sky. 
We stopped a long time under this vegetable roof. 
The place where the tree is found, is called El Guayre. 
The trunk of this zamang is only sixty feet high and 
nine feet in diameter ; its real beauty consists in the 
form of its head. The branches extend like an 
immense umbrella, bending toward the ground, from 
which they remain at a uniform distance of twelve or 
fifteen feet. The circumference of this head is so 
regular, that, having traced two different diameters, I 
found them 192 and 186 feet. One side of the tree 
was entirely stripped of its foliage, owing to the 
drought : on the other side, there remained at once 
leaves and flowers. Tillandsias, lorantheee, cactus- 
pitahayas, and other parasite plants, cover its branches, 
and crack the bark. The inhabitants of these vil- 
lages, particularly the Indians, hold the zamang del 
Guayre in high veneration. The first conquerors 
found it almost in the same state in which it now 
remains ; and since it has been observed with atten- 
tion, no change has appeared in its bulk or height. It 
must be at least as old as the Orotava dragon-tree.* 

* The dragon-tree {draccena draco) of Orotava, in the Island of 
Teneriffe, Is between fifty and sixty feet in height ; its circum- 
ference near the roots is forty-five feet ; and at ten feet from the 
ground, its diameter is twelve feet. It had attained this gigantic 
size when the Spaniards first landed in the island, in the fifteenth 
century. The trunk is divided into a great number of branches, 
which rise in the form of a candelabrum, and terminate in tufts of 



COLOMBIA* 



175 



There is something solemn and majestic in the aspect 
of aged trees ; and the violation of these monuments 
of nature is severely punished in these countries, 
which are destitute of monuments of art. We heard 
with satisfaction, that the present proprietor of the 
zamang had brought an action against a farmer who 
had had the temerity to cut off a branch : the cause 
was tried, and the tribunal condemned the farmer. 
We find near Turmero and the hacienda de Cura^ 
other zamangs, the trunks of which are larger than 
that of Guayre, but their hemispherical head is not of 
equal extent." 

From Turmero, the road leads for three leagues 
and a half over an open country covered with bushes, 
which afford shelter to a vast number of deer, to the 
large village of Maracay, formerly the centre of the 
indigo plantations. Fifty years ago, it was but a 
small hamlet; but in 1795, seventy tradesmen had 
established shops here, and the population had risen 
to 6,000 inhabitants. M. Depons makes it amount, in 
1802, to 8,400. "It is now," says Mr. Semple in 
1810, "a town containing nearly 10,000 inhabitants. 
The principal street is more than half a mile in 
length, and many of the houses are built of stone. It 
stands near the eastern end of the lake, but not 
immediately upon it. Charming plantations extend 
from it in all directions ; and there is a general air of 

leaves, like the yucca of Mexico. At the time of Humboldt's 
visit, it still retained sufficient vigour to produce both flowers and 
fruit annually ; but in July 1819, one-half of its enormous crown 
fell. It is now a noble ruin ; but the wound has been plastered up, 
the date of the misfortune marked on it, and the great care taken 
of " the vegetable venerable," will probably ensure its surviving 
another century. — See Humboldt, Pers. Narr. vol. i. p. 142; 
Researches, vol. ii. p. 209 ; and Graham's Voyage to Brazil, p. 85. 



176 



COLOMBIA. 



prosperity, and still more of activity, which I was 
puzzled to account for, until I learned that work here 
is chiefly performed by free labourers, and that the 
use of slaves for the great purposes of society is, com- 
paratively speaking", but little known." Most of the 
houses have gardens attached to them ; a custom little 
known in this country, and which of itself would 
seem to justify the reputation for industry which is 
enjoyed by the inhabitants of this village. 

The anil, or indigo, of these provinces, has always 
been considered as equal, if not superior, to that of 
Guatimala. 44 This branch of culture," Humboldt 
states, 44 has, since 1772, succeeded to that of cocoa, 
and has given way, in its turn, to that of cotton and 
coffee. The predilection of the colonists has been 
alternately fixed on each of those four productions ; 
but the cocoa and coffee are now the only important 
branches of commerce. To form an idea of the 
immense wealth derived from agriculture in the 
Spanish colonies, it must be recollected, that the 
indigo of Caracas, the value of which amounted, in 
1794, to upwards of 6,000,000 of francs, was the pro- 
duce of four or five square leagues. In the years 
1789 — 95, between 4 and 5,000 freemen came annually 
from the Llanos to the valleys of Aragua, to assist in 
the culture and fabrication of indigo. They worked 
during two months by the day. The indigo-plant 
impoverishes the soil where it is cultivated during 
a long series of years, more than any other. The 
lands of Maracay, Tapatapa, and Tuimero, are looked 
upon as exhausted ; and, indeed, the produce of 
indigo has been constantly decreasing. In proportion 
as the cultivation has declined in the valleys of 
Aragua, it has increased in the province of Varinas, 



COLOMBIA. 



177 



and in the burning plains of Cucuta, where, on the 
banks of the Rio Tachira, virgin land yields an abun- 
dant produce, and of the richest colour."* 

" Soon after leaving Maracay," continues the 
English Traveller, " we began to have occasional 
views of the lake, through the trees and bushes which 
border the road. Having proceeded about three 
leagues, passing a few houses called Tapatapa, we 
arrived at La Cabrera (the Goat-fold), where stood a 
pulperia, surrounded with a few houses, at the foot of 
a calcareous hill. As the sun was just about to set, 
we ascended this eminence by a winding path formed 
by the numerous goats that browse upon it, and 
enjoyed from the top, a view the most beautiful that 
can be imagined. The hills of La Cabrera advance 
into the lake, and thus enable us to see nearly the 
whole of its extent. This beautiful sheet of water, 
which is upwards of 1,300 feet above the level of the 
sea, extends about thirty miles in a direction from 
E.N.E. to W.S.W., and appears to be about twelve in 
its greatest breadth. It resembles Loch Lomond in 
the number of small islands scattered over its bosom, 
amounting to twenty-seven ; but the mountains which 
surround it, although desert, have not the wild and 
rugged character of those which border the Scottish 
lake. The southern side, even viewed at this distance, 

* Pers. Narr. vol. iv. pp. 118—20. The annual mean exports of 
indigo from 1774 to 1778, by way of La Guayra, was 20,000 lb. In 
1796, they had gradually risen to 740,000 lb., exclusive of the con- 
traband trade, which is supposed to have amounted to 160,000 lb. 
more. The total produce of Venezuela, in the most prosperous 
times, was 40,000 arrobas (or a million of pounds), the value 
of which exceeded 1,250,000 dollars. That of Guatimala did not 
exceed 60,000 arrobas. <c But the East India Company, which, in 
1786, did not draw from its vast possessions more than 250,000 lb-, 
sold in London, in 1810, upwards of 5,500,0001b." 



173 



COLOMBIA. 



is highly picturesque, the water approaching close to 
the foot of the hills ; which, being covered with 
forests of mimosas and broad-leaved bananas, have a 
softness and luxuriancy which cannot be surpassed. 
At both ends of the lake, the country is level, soon 
terminating to the eastward in the hills which shut in 
the valley of La Victoria, but extending to the south- 
west beyond Valencia, further than the eye can reach. 
The whole of this grand scene was now enriched with 
all the soft tints which the sun, just sunk below the 
horizon, could impart in this delightful climate. The 
tops of the highest mountains still glowed with fire, 
but a purple light reigned in the valleys, and a soberer 
tint was spread over the surface of the lake. Upon it 
appeared at a distance, a small solitary sail, being the 
first that in the knowledge of man was here ever 
spread. From a knowledge of this circumstance we 
viewed it with some interest, as the germ of future 
improvement and utility. Nothing can shew more 
strongly the great room for improvement in this 
country, than the simple fact to which I have 
alluded, of boats with sails having never yet been used 
by the inhabitants of the borders of the Lake of 
Valencia. Although separated from the sea by only 
a single range of hills, and using small boats on 
the lake for the purpose of fishing, it is somewhat 
singular, that, in the course of more than two cen- 
turies, none of them should have thought of using 
a sail. A native of Biscay, settled in Valencia, 
had now first tried the experiment, and it formed 
no small part of the conversation of those who were 
assembled at the Pulperia of La Cabrera.' ■ 

This place has subsequently acquired a mournful 
celebrity in the annals of the revolutionary war, each 
party having obstinately disputed the possession of 



COLOMBIA. 



179 



the fort, which commands the road to Valencia and 
the Llanos. An arm of the granitic chain of the 
coast, called the promontory of Portachuelo, here 
stretches southward into the plain, and would 
almost close the valley, were it not separated by a 
narrow defile from the rock of La Cabrera. The 
latter, which now forms a peninsula, was a rocky 
island in the lake as lately as the middle of the last 
century, the waters having gradually receded; and 
they are still diminishing. 

In the course of the next five leagues, the traveller 
passes the small hamlets of Mariara, Agua Blanca, 
Cura, San Joaquin, and Guacara. The latter, as 
well as Turmero, Maracay, Cura, and almost every 
point of the valley of Aragua, has its mountain road, 
terminating at one of the small ports on the coast. 
Throughout this distance, though the route passes 
very close to the lake, it is concealed from view by 
the luxuriant vegetation. From Guacara to Valentia 
is a distance of four leagues, through a country mostly 
open and constantly level. The whole of the im- 
mense plain on which the traveller has now entered, 
presents, indeed, every appearance of having formerly 
been covered with water. It is in general level up to 
the very bases of the surrounding hills, and the soil 
has evidently been levelled and abandoned by the 
waters. As the road approaches Valencia, it winds 
near the foot of some high and steep rocks, forming a 
kind of pass, immediately beyond which is gained the 
first view of the town, situated on small slopes, and 
open on every side. The country has now assumed a 
very arid appearance. The white limestone hills, called 
the Morros de Valencia, contribute greatly, by re- 
flecting the rays of the sun, to increase the heat of 
this place. " Every thing," says Humboldt, " seems 



180 



COLOMBIA. 



smitten with sterility. Scarcely are a few cocoa-plants 
found on the banks of the Rio de Valencia, and the 
rest of the plain is bare and destitute of vegetation. 
The appearance of sterility is here attributed, as it is 
ever}- where in the valleys of Aragua, to the cultiva- 
tion of indigo. 

The city of Xew Valencia stands about three miles 
to the west of the lake. It is twelve years older 
than Caracas, having been founded in the year 1555, 
by Alonzo Diaz Morena, as a station from which to 
advance on the valley of Caracas. It was at first 
dependent on Burburata, which is now nothing more 
than a place of embarkation for mules. Its advanta- 
geous position, as a centre of communication between 
Puerto Cabello and the inland towns, has raised it 
into a place of considerable importance. At the time 
of Humboldt's visit, the population was only between 
six and seven thousand souls, but, in 1810, it 
amounted to upwards of 10,000. 44 The inhabitants," 
says M. Lavaysse, 44 are nearly all Creoles, the de- 
scendants of ancient Biscayan and Canary families. 
There is great industry and comfort in this town. 
It is as large as a European town of 24,000 souls, 
because the greater part of the houses have only a 
ground-floor, and many of them have gardens. Fifty 
years ago, its inhabitants passed for the most indolent 
in the country. They all pretended to be descended 
from the ancient conquerors, and could not conceive 
it possible for them to exercise any other function 
than the military profession, or to cultivate the land, 
without degrading themselves. Thus, they lived in 
the most abject misery on a singularly fertile soil. 
Their ideas have since completely changed ; they have 
applied themselves to agriculture and commerce, and 
the grounds in the neighbourhood are well cultivated 



COLOMBIA. 



Valencia is the centre of a considerable trade between 
Caracas and Puerto Cabello." * Humboldt states, 
tbat, when he was there, many of the Whites, espe- 
cially of the poorer sort, would forsake their houses, 
and pass the greater part of the year in their little 
plantations of indigo and cotton, where they might 
venture to work with their own hands; " which, ac- 
cording to the inveterate prejudices of that country, 
would be a disgrace to them in the town." The in- 
dustry of the inhabitants was beginning to awake, 
and the cultivation of cotton had considerably aug- 
mented, since Puerto Cabello had been opened, as a 
puerto mayor, to vessels direct from the mother 
country. 

There is nothing striking, according to Mr. Semple, 
in the appearance of the town. Some of the streets, 
he says, are tolerably well built, but the houses are 
mostly low and irregular, and the principal church, -f- 
which stands on the eastern side of the great square, 
is by no means equal to that of La Victoria, either in 
its size or its proportions. The streets are very broad ; 
the dimensions of the plaza mayor are u excessive 
and, the houses being low, the disproportion between 
the population and the space which the town occupies, 
is still greater than at Caracas. The Author of Let- 
ters from Colombia thus describes the appearance 
which it presented in 1823, at the time that it was the 
head quarters of the patriot army investing Puerto Ca- 
bello. There were then about two thousand troops in 
the town, among whom were most of the English who 
had survived the several campaigns. " The entrance 

* Lavaysse, p. 59. 

f There is but one parish, but a second church was built in 
1804 by the Canarians, and the Franciscans have a very neat 
church attached to their monastery. 
PART II. M 



182 



COLOMBIA. 



to the town is by a good bridge of three arches, built 
of stone and brick, and described as the best by far of 
any in the Republic. The Glorieta attached to it, is 
a large circular seat, enclosing an area where the in- 
habitants meet in the evening for dancing and festi- 
vity. This is, in fact, the only public promenade. 
Of the few benefits bestowed on the country by the 
Spaniards, this is one. The bridge and Glorieta were 
erected by Morales not many years since. The town 
contains many large houses, the best of which are 
occupied by the military : a greater number are in 
ruins, presenting a further memento of the ravages 
committed by the earthquake. The population is not 
proportioned to its present size. In this, as well as 
in respect to its resources, the prolonged and harassing 
war has left behind it most melancholy memorials." 

It has been regretted, and " perhaps justly," Hum- 
boldt says, that Valencia was not made the capital, 
instead of Caracas, under the colonial government. 
" Its situation in a plain, on the banks of a lake, re- 
calls to mind the position of Mexico. When we 
reflect on the easy communication which the valleys 
of Aragua furnish with the Llanos and the rivers 
that flow into the Orinoco, and recognise the possi- 
bility of opening an inland navigation, by the Rio 
Pao and the Portuguesa, as far as the mouths of the 
Orinoco, the Cassiquiare, and the Amazons, — it will 
appear, that the capital of the vast provinces of Vene- 
zuela would have been better placed near the fine 
harbour of Puerto Cabello, beneath a pure and serene 
sky, than near the unsheltered road of La Guayra, 
in a temperate but constantly foggy valley. Situated 
near the kingdom of New Granada, and between the 
fertile corn-lands of La Victoria and Barquesimeto, 
the city of Valencia ought to have prospered; but, 



COLOMBIA. 



183 



notwithstanding these advantages, it has been unable 
to maintain the contest with Caracas, which, during 
two centuries, has drawn away a great number of its 
inhabitants." 

The advantages of the situation have one drawback, 
however, in the incredible number of ants which 
infest the spot where Valencia is placed. Their ex- 
cavations resemble subterraneous canals, which, in the 
rainy season, are filled with water, and become 
very dangerous to the buildings, by occasioning a 
sinking of the ground. To set against this, there 
is an opening (abra) in the Cordillera of the coast, 
in the meridian of Valencia, by which a cooling 
sea-breeze penetrates into the valley every evening : 
the breeze rises regularly two or three hours after 
sunset. 

LAKE OF VALENCIA OR TACARIGUA. 

The valleys of Aragua form a narrow basin, 
enclosed by granitic and calcareous mountains of 
unequal height. On the north, the Sierra Mariara 
separates this basin from the sea-coast ; towards the 
south, the chain of Guacimo and Yusma serves as 
a rampart against the heated air of the steppes ; while 
groupes of hills, high enough to determine the course 
of the waters, close this basin on the east and west, 
like transverse dikes. These hills occur between the 
Tuy and La Victoria, and on the road from Valencia 
to Nirgua. " From this extraordinary configuration 
of the land," says Humboldt, u the little rivers of 
the valleys of Aragua form a peculiar system, and, 
instead of bearing their waters to the ocean, are 
collected in an inland lake, where, subject to the 
powerful influence of evaporation, they lose them- 



184 



COLOMBIA. 



selves, if we may use the expression, in the atmo- 
sphere. On the existence of these rivers and the 
lake, the fertility of the soil, and the produce of 
cultivation in these valleys, depend. The aspect of 
the spot and the experience of half a century prove, 
that the level of the waters is not invariable : the 
waste by evaporation, and the increase from the 
waters running into the lake, do not constantly 
balance each other. As the lake is 1,000 feet above 
the neighbouring steppes of Calabozo, and 1,332 feet 
above the level of the ocean, it has been suspected 
that there are subterranean communications and ni- 
trations ; and the appearance of new islands, occa- 
sioned by the gradual retreat of the waters, has led 
to the apprehension that the lake may one day become 
entirely dry. 

" The Lake of Valencia, called by the Indians 
Tacarigua, excels in magnitude the Lake of Neuf- 
chatel in Switzerland, but, in its general form, has 
more resemblance to the Lake of Geneva, which is 
nearly at the same height above the level of the sea. 
The slope of the ground in the valleys of Aragua, 
tends towards the S. and W. ; that part of the basin, 
therefore, which has remained covered with water, is 
nearer the southern chain of mountains, those of 
Guigue, Yusma, and Guacimo, which stretch toward 
the high savannas of Ocumare. The opposite banks 
of the lake exhibit a singular contrast. Those on the 
south are desert and almost uninhabited, and a screen 
of high mountains gives them a gloomy and mono- 
tonous aspect. The northern shore, on the contrary, 
is cheerful, pastoral, and adorned with the rich cul- 
tivation of the sugar-cane, the coffee-plant, and 
cotton. Paths bordered with cestrums, azedaracs, 
and other shrubs always in flower, cross the plain, 



COLOMBIA. 



185 



and join the scattered farms. Every house is sur- 
rounded with clumps of trees. The ceiba-palm with 
its large yellow flowers, mingling its branches with 
those of the purple erithryna, gives a peculiar 
character to the landscape. This mixture of vivid 
vegetable colours contrasts with the uniform tint of 
an unclouded sky. In the season of drought, when 
the burning soil is covered with an undulating vapour, 
artificial irrigations preserve the verdure and fer- 
tility. Here and there, the granitic rock pierces 
through the cultivated ground. Enormous rocky 
masses rise abruptly in the midst of the valley, bare 
and forked, but nourishing a few succulent plants, 
which prepare mould for cultivation in future ages. 
Often, at the summit of these lonely hills, a fig-tree, 
or a clusia with its fleshy leaves, that has fixed 
its roots in the rock, towers over the landscape. 
With their dead and withered branches, they look 
like signals erected on a steep cliff. The form of 
these mounts betrays the secret of their ancient 
origin : when the whole of the valley was filled with 
water, and the waves beat at the foot of the peaks of 
Mariara, the Rincon del Diablo (devil's wall), and 
the cordillera of the coast, these rocky hills were 
shoals or islets.* 

" According to astronomical observations, the 
length of the lake, in its present state, from Cagua to 

* Pers. Narr. vol. iv. p. 130, &c. This contrast between the 
opposite shores of the lake, recalled that which is presented 
by the cultivated and fertile Pays de Vaud and the mountainous 
and half-desert country of Chablais, on the opposite side of the 
Lake of Geneva. " But I do not imagine," says the learned 
Writer, " that I present the reader with clearer images or more 
precise ideas, by comparing our landscapes with those of the 
equinoctial regions. It cannot be too often repeated, that Nature 
under every zone, whether wild or cultivated, smiling or majestic, 
displays an individual character." 



186 



COLOMBIA. 



Guayos, is ten leagues, or 28,800 toises. Its breadth 
is very unequal, no where surpassing 6,500 toises: 
most commonly, it is but four or five miles across.* 
Oviedo, in bis History of Venezuela, published in 
1723, gives this 6 inland sea' fourteen leagues in 
length and six in breadth. He states, that, at a small 
distance from the shore, the lead finds no bottom, 
and that large floating islands cover the surface of the 
waters, which are constantly agitated by the winds. 
No importance can be attached to estimates which, 
without being founded on any measurement, are ex- 
pressed in leagues, reckoned in the colonies at 3,000, 
5,000, and 6,650 varas.f What is more worthy of 
attention, is the assertion of the same writer, that 
the town of Nueva Valencia d'el Rey was built, in 
1555, at the distance of half a league from the lake, 
and that the proportion of the length of the lake to 
its breadth, was as seven to three. At present, the 
town of Valencia is separated from the lake by level 
ground of more than 2,700 toises, which Oviedo 
would doubtless have estimated as a league and a 
half, and the length of the lake is to its breadth as 
10 to 2-3, or as 7 to 1*6. The appearance of the soil 
between Valencia and Guigue, the little hills that rise 
abruptly in the plain, some of which (as El Islote 
and La Isla de la Negra^ or Caratapona) have even 
preserved the name of islands, sufficiently prove that 
the waters have retired considerably since the time of 

* M. Depons, on " the concurrent testimony of" his " own 
eyes, and that of the intelligent Spaniards residing in the vicinity ," 
makes it extend thirteen leagues and a half from E.N.E. to W.S.W., 
and its greatest breadth, he says, is four leagues, (vol. i. p. 74.) 

f The latter is the leg-uu nautica (2854 toises), 20 in a degree. Cis- 
neros, in 1787> makes the lake 18 leagues long and about six broad ; 
and another Spanish writer assigns it 10 Castilian leagues, by 3| 
in breadth. 



COLOMBIA. 



187 



Oviedo. With respect to the change in the general 
form of the lake, it appears to me improbable that, in 
the seventeenth century, its breadth was nearly half 
its length. The situation of the granitic mountains 
of Mariara and Guigue, and the slope of the ground, 
which rises more rapidly toward the N. and S. than 
toward the E. and W., are alike repugnant to this 
supposition. 

" I have no doubt," continues the learned Traveller, 
iC that, in very remote times, the whole valley, from 
the foot of the mountains of Cocuyza to those of Torito 
and Nirgua, and from La Sierra de Mariara to the 
chain of Guigue, of Guacimo, and La Palma, was filled 
with water. Every where, the form of the promon- 
tories, and their steep declivities, seem to indicate 
the shore of an alpine lake, similar to those of Styria 
and Tyrol. The same little helicites, the same valvae, 
which now live in the Lake of Valencia, are found, in 
layers of three or four feet, in the islands, as far as 
Turmero and La Concesion near La Victoria. These 
facts undoubtedly prove a retreat of the waters ; but 
nothing indicates that this retreat has continued 
from that remote period to our days. The valleys of 
Aragua are one of the parts of Venezuela the most 
anciently peopled ; and yet, there is no mention in 
Oviedo, or any other old chronicler, of a sensible 
diminution of the lake. Ought we simply to suppose, 
that this phenomenon escaped their observation, at a 
time when the Indian population far exceeded the 
white, and when the banks of the lake were (less in- 
habited ? Within half a century, and particularly 
within these thirty years, the natural desiccation of 
this great basin has excited general attention. We 
find vast spaces of land that were formerly inundated, 
now dry, and already cultivated with plantains, sugar- 



183 



COLOMBIA. 



canes, or cotton. Wherever a hut is erected on the 
bank of the lake, we see the shore receding from year 
to year. We discover islands which, in consequence 
of the retreat of the waters, scarcely begin to be 
joined to the continent, as the rocky island of Culebra, 
on the side of Guigue ; other islands already form 
promontories, as the Morro between Guigue and 
Nueva Valencia, and La Cabrera, south-east of Ma- 
riara ; others now rise in the islands, like scattered 
hills. Among these last, so easily recognised at a 
distance, some are only a quarter of a mile, others a 
league from the present shore. I shall cite as the 
most remarkable, three granitic islands, thirty or forty 
toises high, on the road from Hacienda de Cura to 
Aguas Calientes ; and at the western extremity of 
the lake, the Serrito de Don Pedro, Islote, and Cara- 
tapona. On visiting two islands * entirely surrounded 
by water, we found, in the midst of brushwood, on 
small flats of four, six, and even eight toises height 
above the surface of the lake, fine sand mixed with 
helicites, anciently deposited by the waters. In each 
of these islands may be perceived the most certain 
traces of the gradual sinking of the waters. But 
still further, and this accident is regarded by the in- 
habitants as a marvellous phenomenon, in 1796, three 
new islands appeared to the east of the island Caiguira, 
in the same direction as the islands Burro, Otama, 
and Zorro. These new islands, called by the people 
los nuevos Penones, or las Aparecidas, form a kind of 
banks, with surfaces quite flat. They rose already, 
in 1800, more than a foot above the mean level of the 
waters." 

* " Isla de Cura and Cabo Blanco. The promontory of Cabrera 
has been connected with the shore ever since the year 1750 or 1?60, 
by a vale which bears the name of Portachuelo." 



COLOMBIA. 



189 



It is manifest, that the lake cannot have been con- 
stantly contracting at the present rate, from the first 
discovery of the country. For ages, the waters had 
contained themselves within the same limits, the 
equilibrium, being maintained between the supply of 
the rivers and evaporation ; and the first great change 
in the boundaries of the lake must be referred to a 
period long antecedent to historical times. The in- 
habitants, little acquainted with the effects of evapo- 
ration, have imagined that the lake must have a sub- 
terranean outlet ; and even M. Depons is disposed to 
adopt this opinion as highly probable. " The waters 
of twenty rivers,"* he says, " are discharged into it 
without any visible outlet. It is six leagues from the 
sea, and the space which separates them is filled with 
inaccessible mountains. It is the more difficult to 
account for its having no visible outlet, as it receives 
rivers on all sides, which proves it to be a perfect 
basin." Modern science, however, has shewn, that 
evaporation is a cause quite adequate to explain the 
phenomenon of lakes fed by rivers, yet having no 
channel by which to discharge their waters.-]- The 
Lake of Tacarigua is 222 toises (1332 feet) above the 
ocean ; the Caspian Sea is 54 toises (324 feet) lower 
than the ocean. With regard to both, the same 
hypothesis of a subterranean gulf or channel has been 

* M. Humboldt says, " twelve or fourteen," of which he enu- 
merates, the Rios de Aragua, Turmero, Maracay, Tapatapa, 
Aguas Calientes, Mariara, Cura, Guacara, Guataparo, Valencia, 
and the Cano Grande de Cambury. Most of these deserve only 
the name of torrents or brooks. 

f See the account of the Dead Sea in Mod. Trav., Palestine, 
p. 233 ; and the Valley of Salt, Syria, &c. vol. i. p. 309. See also 
the account of the lakes Ak-Shehr and Bulwudun, ib., vol. ii. 
p. 309. And for the account of the diminution of the Mexican 
lakes, see Mexico, vol. i. p. 263, &c. 

M 2 



190 



COLOMBIA. 



had recourse to, though it is well known, that fluids, 
communicating by a lateral channel, must find the 
same level. 

The present extent of surface in the Lake of 
Tacarigua is 106,500,000 square toises. The volume 
of water which it receives from the various torrents, 
it would be difficult to ascertain. It must vary con- 
siderably, not only as the streams are greatly swelled 
in the rainy season, but as, during the drought, a 
large portion of water is diverted from the rivers, for 
the purpose of irrigating the plantations. No men- 
tion, however, is made by any of the writers we have 
consulted, of the precise increase and decrease of the 
lake at different seasons of the year. But if heretofore 
the waste occasioned by evaporation has been constantly 
repaired by an equal supply from the rivers, how are 
we to account for the depression of the waters of the 
lake, which has been perceptibly going forward for the 
last fifty years ? " Without having recourse to any 
occult cause," says M. Depons, " the reason of that 
rapid and continual diminution is found in the in- 
creased use which the inhabitants have made of the 
waters of the rivers to refresh their plantations^ 
These waters, diffused over a considerable surface, 
evaporate, or become an elementary principle of vege- 
tation, and are consequently lost to the general reser- 
voir, which, as it receives less water, must necessarily 
decrease." M. Humboldt adverts to other circum- 
stances which throw further light on the phenomenon. 
" The changes which the destruction of the forests, 
the clearing of the plains, and the cultivation of 
indigo, have produced, within half a century, in the 
quantity of water flowing in, together with the evapo- 
ration of the soil and the dryness of the atmosphere, 
present," he remarks, " causes sufficiently powerful 



COLOMBIA. 



191 



to explain the successive diminution of the lake. By 
felling the trees that cover the tops and the sides 
of mountains, men in every climate prepare at once 
two calamities for future generations, — the want of 
fuel, and a scarcity of water. Trees, by the nature 
of their respiration, and the radiation from their 
leaves in a sky without clouds, surround themselves 
with an atmosphere constantly cool and misty. They 
affect the copiousness of springs, not, as was long be- 
lieved, by a peculiar attraction for the vapours diffused 
through the air, but because, by sheltering the soil 
from the direct action of the sun, they diminish the 
evaporation of the water produced by rain. When 
forests are destroyed, as they are every where in 
America by the European planters, with an imprudent 
precipitation, the springs are entirely dried up, or 
become less abundant. The beds of the rivers, re- 
maining dry during a part of the year, are converted 
into torrents, whenever great rains fall on the heights. 
The sward and moss disappearing with the brush- 
wood from the sides of the mountains, the waters 
falling in rain, are no longer impeded in their course ; 
and instead of slowly augmenting the level of the 
rivers by progressive nitrations, they furrow, during 
heavy showers, the sides of the hills, bear down the 
loosened soil, and form those sudden inundations 
that devastate the country. Hence it results, that 
the destruction of forests, the want of permanent 
springs, and the existence of torrents, are three phe- 
nomena closely connected together. Countries that 
are situate in opposite hemispheres, Lombardy, bor- 
dered by the chain of the Alps, and Lower Peru, en- 
closed between the Pacific Ocean and the cordillera of 
the Andes, exhibit striking proofs of the justness of 
this assertion. 



192 COLOMBIA. 

" Till the middle of the last century, tlie mountains 
that surround the valleys of Aragua, were covered 
with forests. Great trees, of the families of mimosa, 
ceiba, and the fig-tree, shaded and spread coolness 
along the hanks of the lake. The plaip, then thinly 
inhabited, was filled with brush wood, interspersed 
with trunks of scattered trees and parasite plants, 
enveloped with a thick sward, less capable of emitting 
radiant caloric than the soil that is cultivated and 
therefore not sheltered from the rays of the sun. 
With the destruction of trees, and the increase of the 
cultivation of sugar, indigo, and cotton, the springs 
and all the natural supplies of the Lake of Valencia, 
have diminished from year to year." 

In fact, Humboldt says, since the increase of agri- 
cultural industry in the valleys of Aragua, the little 
rivers that run into the lake, can no longer be con- 
sidered as real supplies during the first six months of 
the year. They remain dried up in the lower part 
of their course, owing to the trenches made by the 
planters to water their grounds. Moreover, the Rio 
Pao, a pretty considerable river which formerly joined 
the Cano de Carabury, having a course from south to 
north, has been turned into a new channel, and, in- 
stead of contributing its waters to the lake, now falls 
ultimately into the Portuguesa, a branch of the Apure. 
" At the end of the seventeenth century, the pro- 
prietor of a neighbouring plantation thought proper 
to dig, at the back of the hill, a new bed for the Rio 
Pao. He turned the river, and, after employing 
part of the water for the irrigation of his fields, he 
caused the rest to flow at a venture toward the S., 
following the declivity of the Llanos. The river has 
scooped itself out a bed so deep and broad, that, in 
the rainy season, when the Cano Grande de Cambury 



COLOMBIA. 



193 



inundates all the land to the N.W. of Guigue, the 
waters of this Cano, and those of the Lake of Valencia, 
flow back into the Rio Pao itself ; so that this river, 
instead - of adding water to the lake, tends rather to 
carry it away." These circumstances, together with 
the great droughts which prevailed for the ten years 
preceding Humboldt's visit to the equinoctial regions, 
seem sufficiently to account for the diminution of the 
lake ; but the apprehension that it would speedily be 
dried up, he treats as wholly chimerical. The ques- 
tion, indeed, was at one time under discussion at 
Caracas, whether it would not be advisable, in order 
to give greater extent to agriculture, to conduct the 
waters of the lake into the Llanos, by digging a canal 
towards the Pao. The project would not be imprac- 
ticable ; but how, he remarks, can it be doubted for a 
moment, that the lake alone spreads fertility over 
this country ? " Deprived of the enormous mass of 
vapours which the surface of the waters sends forth 
daily into the atmosphere, the valleys of Aragua 
would become as dry and barren as the surrounding 
mountains." 

The mean depth of the lake is from twelve to fifteen 
fathoms ; the deepest parts are not above forty 
fathoms. In general, the southern part of the basin 
is deeper than the northern. The temperature at 
the surface, in the month of February, was constantly 
from 23° to 23*7° (cent, ther.), — a little below the 
mean temperature of the air. This tropical lake 
possesses one striking advantage over those of the 
Alps, in being full of islands, Avhich embellish the 
scenery by the picturesque form of their rocks and 
their rich vegetation. These islands are fifteen in 
number, and form three groupes ; viz. to the north, 
near the shore, the Isla de Cum ; to the S.E., Burro, 



194 



COLOMBIA, 



Homo, Otama, Sorro, Caiguira, and Nuevos Penones, 
or the new Aparecidas ; to the N.W., Cabo Blanco, 
or Isla de Aves, and Chamberg ; to the S.W., Brucha 
and Calebra; in the centre of the lake rise, like small 
detached rocks, Vagre, Fraile, Penasco, and Pan de 
Azucar. They are partly cultivated and extremely 
fertile. Burro, the largest, is two miles in length, 
and is inhabited by some mestizoes, who rear goats, 
and live on the milk, with bananas, cassava, and a 
little fish, seldom visiting the neighbouring shore. 
The lake is in general tolerably well stocked with 
fish, but there are only three kinds, the guavina, the 
vagra, and the sardina, the flesh of all of which is 
soft and insipid. The guavina is extremely voracious, 
and destroys the other two species, which descend into 
the lake by the streams that flow into it. The bava, a 
small species of crocodile, from three to four feet in 
length, is also said to contribute to the destruction of 
the fish. It is believed to be otherwise harmless. 
There are no large alligators in the lake, or in the 
rivers that flow into it, though that dangerous animal 
abounds a few leagues off, in the streams that flow 
into the Apure, or the Orinoco, or immediately into 
the Caribbean Sea, between Puerto Cabello and La 
Guayra. The island of Chamberg is remarkable for 
its height. It is a rock of gneiss, with two summits 
joined in the form of a saddle, rising two hundred 
feet above the surface of the water. The whole effect 
of the lake and of its richly cultivated shores, is 
highly picturesque, particularly after sunset, when 
thousands of herons, flamingoes, wild ducks, and 
other aquatic birds, cross the lake to roost in the 
islands. Then, too, very frequently, the broad zone 
of mountains that closes the horizon, may be seen 
covered with fere. The inhabitants, in order to pro- 



COLOMBIA. 



195 



duce fresher and finer grass, set fire to the meadows ; 
and these vast conflagrations, extending sometimes 
over a tract six thousand feet in length, and reaching 
to the very summits of the mountains, which abound 
with gramineous plants, appear like streams of lava 
overflowing the ridge. When reposing on the banks 
of the lake in one of those beautiful evenings peculiar 
to the tropics, it is delightful, Humboldt says, to con- 
template in the waves that beat the shore, the reflec- 
tion of the red fires that inflame the horizon. M. I)e- 
pons says: " The birds which constantly abide in 
the vicinity of the lakes, afford continual delight by 
the diversity of their species, the vivid colours of their 
plumage, and the variety of their notes, some of which 
are exquisitely melodious." A great many reptiles of 
the lizard kind are found on the borders, one of which, 
the iguana, is eaten by the natives. The immediate 
vicinity of the lake has been deemed unhealthy, but 
it becomes so, Humboldt says, only in times of great 
drought, when the retreating waters leave a muddy 
sediment exposed to the ardent heat of the sun. The 
lilaceous plants and other aquatic vegetation on its 
banks, remind the European of the marshy shores of 
his own lakes, though, on examination, they are 
found to differ specifically. 

Among the rivers that fall into the lake, some ori- 
ginate in thermal springs, which gush out at three 
points of the granitic cordillera of the coast ; near 
Onoto, between Turmero and Maracay ; near Mariara, 
to the N.E. of the Hacienda de Cura ; and near Las 
Trincheras, on the road from Valencia to Puerto 
Cabello. In ascending the small river Cura, the 
mountains of Mariara are seen advancing into the 
plain in the form of a vast amphitheatre, composed of 
perpendicular rocks crowned with rugged peaks. It 



196 



COLOMBIA. 



is the central point of this range which bears the 
strange name of El Rincon del Diablo. The range 
stretching eastward, is called El Chaparro ; that 
to the westward, Las Viruelas. Nothing can be 
more solemn and picturesque than this groupe of 
mountains half -covered with vegetation. During 
the rains, a considerable sheet of water rushes, in 
the form of a cascade, from the central cliffs. In the 
eastern range, which is much less lofty, is found the 
quebrada de aguas calientes (ravine of hot waters). 
There are five springs (pozos), which are slightly- 
impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and vary 
in temperature from 56° to 59° (cent, ther.) It is 
only in the rainy season that the waters form a 
torrent, and their heat is then greatly diminished. 
South of the ravine, in the plain that extends toward 
the shore of the lake, another hydro - sulphurous 
spring gushes out, of much lower temperature. The 
water is collected in a circular basin, surrounded with 
large trees, which is from fifteen to eighteen feet in 
diameter, and three feet deep. u The unhappy 
slaves," says Humboldt, " throw themselves into this 
bath at the close of the day, when covered with dust 
from having worked in the neighbouring fields of 
indigo and sugar-canes. Though the water of this 
bath is from 12° to 15° hotter than the air, the 
Blacks call it refreshing. We ourselves experienced 
its salutary effects. After getting out of the bath, 
while, half-wrapped in a sheet, we were drying our- 
selves in the sun, according to the custom of the 
country, a little man of the mulatto race approached 
us. After bowing gravely, he made us a long speech 
on the virtues of the waters of Mariara, on the num- 
bers of sick by whom they have been visited for some 
years past, and on the fortunate situation of the 



COLOMBIA. 



197 



springs between two towns, Valencia and Caracas, 
where the neglect of moral conduct is increasing 
every day. He shewed us his house, a little hut 
covered with palm -leaves, and situate in an enclosure 
at a small distance, on the bank of a rivulet that com- 
municates with the bath. He assured us, that we 
should there find all the conveniences of life ; nails to 
suspend our hammocks, ox-leather to stretch over 
benches made of reeds, earthen vases always filled 
with cool water, and what, next to the bath, would be 
most salutary to us of all, those great lizards {iguanas) 
the flesh of which is known to be a refreshing ali- 
ment. "We judged from his harangue, that the poor 
man took us for sick persons who were come to stay 
near the spring. His counsels and offers of hospitality 
were not altogether disinterested. He entitled him- 
self 4 the inspector of the waters and pulpero * of the 
place.' Accordingly, all his obliging attentions to us 
ceased as soon as he heard that we were simply come 
to satisfy our curiosity ; or, as they express it in the 
colonies, which are the land of idleness, para ver, no 
mas, ' to see, and nothing more.' " 

The hot springs of La Trxnchera^ which are 
found three leagues to the north of Valencia, are sup- 
posed to be, next to the springs of Urijino in Japan, 
the hottest in the world. Instead of gushing out 
to the south of the mountains, like those of Mariara 
and Onoto, they issue from the chain itself, almost at 
its northern declivity, and form a rivulet, which, 
even during seasons of the greatest drought, is two 
feet deep and eighteen wide. The temperature of 

* Proprietor of a pulperia, or little shop, where eatables and 
drinkables are sold. 

f So called from the mud fortifications thrown up by some 
French freebooters who sacked Valencia hi 1077- 



198 



COLOMBIA. 



the water is 90.3° cent. ther. Eggs plunged into it 
are boiled in less than four minutes. The spring 
is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, 
and the evaporation forms an incrustation of car- 
bonate of lime. A luxuriant vegetation surrounds 
the basin. Mimosas, clusias, and fig-trees have 
pushed their roots into the bottom of a pool the tem- 
perature of which is 85°, and an arum rises in 
the very middle of a pool the temperature of 
which is 70°. The foliage of these trees, though 
extended over the surface of the water, which 
is constantly sending up hot vapour, displays the most 
beautiful verdure. Forty feet distant from the point 
where the springs gush out at a temperature of 90°, 
other springs are found entirely cold ; and the natives 
shewed M. Humboldt, that, by digging a hole between 
the two rivulets, they could procure a bath of any 
given temperature. The sick who come to La Trin- 
chera to use the vapour -bath, form a sort of arbour 
over the spring with branches of trees and slender 
reeds, on which they stretch themselves naked. The 
Rio de Aguas Calientes runs towards the N.E., and 
becomes, near the coast, a considerable river, abound- 
ing with large alligators, and contributing, by its 
inundations, to the insalubrity of the coast. 

At the hacienda of Mocundo, on the shores of the 
lake, Humboldt saw four camels employed in the con- 
veyance of sugar-canes to the mill. Three of the four 
were born in America. This invaluable animal had 
been recently introduced into these provinces from 
the Canary Islands. Soon after the conquest, a Bis- 
cayan, Juan de Reinaga, carried some of these animals 
at his own expense to Peru. They were at the time 
very common in the south of Spain. Acosta saw 
some of these at the foot of the Andes towards the end 



COLOMBIA. 



199 



of the sixteenth century ; hut, as little care was taken 
of them, they scarcely ever bred, and the race soon 
became extinct. The introduction of the camel, 
attempted by Reinaga, was viewed with jealousy and 
alarm by the encomenderos,* or lords proprietors, who 
held the Indians in slavery, and let them out to 
travellers as beasts of burden ; and, in consequence of 
their interested representations, the colonies were 
deprived of the services of this useful animal, by 
which the inland communication would have been 
greatly facilitated. 44 A few hundreds of camels," 
Humboldt remarks, 44 spread over the vast surface 
of America in hot and barren places, would in a few 
years have a powerful influence on the public pro-* 
sperity. Provinces separated by steppes, would then 
be in effect brought nearer to each other ; several 
kinds of merchandise would fall in price on the coast ; 
and, by increasing the number of these 4 ships of the 
desert, 9 new life would be given to the industry and 
commerce of the New World." 

The cultivation and population of the plains in- 
crease as the traveller approaches Cura and Guacara 
on the northern side of the lake. In 1800, the val- 
leys of Aragua contained, within an area thirteen 
leagues long by two wide, more than 52,000 inhabi- 
tants, which gives 2,000 to the square league, — a 
relative population almost equal to that of the most 
populous parts of France. The cotton of Aragua is 
esteemed finer than that of Cartagena, St. Domingo, 
or the West India Islands, and inferior only to that 
of Brazil. The plant grows wild on the borders of the 
lake. This production is likely to become in future a 
most important article of exportation. During his 



* See Mexico, vol. i. p. 204. 



200 



COLOMBIA. 



stay at Cura, Humboldt was surprised to witness in 
every direction, not only the progress of agriculture, 
but the increase of a free laborious population, accus- 
tomed to toil, and too poor to rely on the assistance of 
slaves. White and mulatto farmers had every where 
small separate establishments. " Our host," (Count 
Tovar), he says, u whose father had a revenue of 
40,000 piasters, possessing more lands than he could 
clear, distributed them among such poor families as 
chose to apply themselves to the cultivation of cotton. 
He endeavoured to surround his ample plantations 
with freemen, who, working as they chose, either on 
their own land, or in the neighbouring plantations, 
supplied him with day-labourers at harvest -time. 
Nobly occupied with the means best adapted to ex- 
tinguish slavery among the Blacks in these provinces, 
Count Tovar flattered himself with the double hope of 
rendering slaves less necessary to the landholders, and 
of furnishing the freedmen with opportunities of 
becoming farmers. On departing for Europe, he had 
parcelled out and let a part of the lands of Cura, 
which extend toward the west at the foot of Las 
Viruelas. On his return to America four years after, 
he found on this spot, then in fine cultivation, a little 
hamlet of thirty or forty houses, which is called 
Punta Zamuro. The inhabitants are almost all 
Mulattoes, Zamboes, or free Blacks. This example 
of letting out land, has happily been followed by 
several other great proprietors. The rent is ten 
piasters for a vanega of ground, and is paid either 
in money or in cotton. I love to dwell on these 
details of colonial industry, because they prove to the 
inhabitants of Europe, what to the enlightened 
inhabitants of the colonies has long ceased to be 
doubtful, — that the continent of Spanish America can 



COLOMBIA. 



201 



produce sugar and indigo by free hands,, and that the 
unhappy slaves are capable of becoming peasants, far- 
mers, and landholders." * 

FROM VALENCIA TO PUERTO CABELLO. 
From Valencia, it is a distance of about four 
leagues, over the plain, to the guard-house at the 
foot of the Sierra which must be crossed in proceed- 
ing to the coast. The road then immediately be- 
comes a steep ascent for two leagues. Near the sum- 
mit is a small venta, where travellers usually halt, 
from which is obtained a delightful view of the lake 
and plain of Valencia, seen between the rugged sum- 
mits of intervening hills, while, to the westward, 
plains, bordered by mountains, stretch away into the 
horizon. During the whole ascent, only a few stunted 
trees appear, but, having reached the summit, the 
traveller soon finds himself in a forest. " I had never 
before," says Mr. Semple, " passed over a road which, 
without affording very extensive prospects, was yet 
so calculated to inspire grand and gloomy ideas. The 
view was bounded by high mountains, except towards 
the north, which afforded at intervals a partial glimpse 
of the sea. All around were peaked hills and deep 
valleys, clothed with trees. At every step, we seemed 
to be descending, still more and more, into an im- 
mense amphitheatre, on the summit of which the 
clouds rested. The silence of the forest was broken, 
at intervals, by the cries of unknown birds, and, as 
we descended still more and more, by the fall and the 
rushing of water on our left. We looked down, and 
beheld an immense chasm, at the bottom of which 
the tallest trees appeared small, and where a con- 
siderable stream, by its windings and changes of form, 
* Pers. Narr. vol. iv. pp. 126—3. 



202 COLOMBIA* 

gave unceasing variety to the views. Sometimes it 
appeared below us, like a long, narrow lake of great 
depth, terminating at one end in a noisy cascade. 
Sometimes it rushed along through a deep channel 
of solid rocks, which it had evidently worn for itself, 
in the course of ages, or strayed amongst huge blocks 
of granite, which interrupted its course. The first 
objects which we saw to break the wildness of the 
scene, were solitary huts, formed of branches of trees, 
plastered with clay, surrounded by a little spot of 
cleared ground. These huts gradually increased in 
number, and improved in appearance as we descended, 
until they terminated at length in handsome houses 
and plantations. We passed the torrent by a bridge, 
still in an unfinished state, and found that the scenery 
had here lost none of its interest. I have seen many 
glens, but none to equal this, which winds from the 
summit of the lofty mountains almost to the sea-shore. 
At length we left the woods, and, after a continued 
descent of five leagues, came in sight of Puerto Ca- 
bello, situated in a flat close to the sea, amidst 
marshes, full of mangrove trees, and overflowed with 
the tide. We were struck with the mean appearance 
of the houses, which were all low, and, in many in- 
stances, seemed little superior to the huts we had 
passed in the woods. In the whole place we could 
not find a posada." * 

Puerto Cabello is, next to Cartagena, the most im« 

* This road is reckoned a distance of eight leagues. Humboldt 
speaks of a new road that was being made to Puerto Cabello, 
through an abra in the cordillera, passing the farm of Barbula, 
and by an eastern branch of the ravine, which, he says, would be 
so much shorter as to require only four hours to reach the port. 
Las Trincheras is in this road, which is almost a continual descent 
from the banks of the lake to the coast. Mr. Semple makes no 
mention of it. 



COLOMBIA. 



203 



portant fortified place on this coast. It stands in lat. 
10° 28' N., long. 69° 10' W. The town is quite 
modern. The port, Humboldt says, is one of the 
finest in the world : art has had scarcely any thing to 
add to the advantages which the nature of the spot 
presents. It is thus described by the English Tra- 
veller : " Puerto Cabello stands upon a small neck 
of land, which has been cut through, and thus formed 
into an artificial island. A bridge crosses this cut, 
and affords entrance to the original city, which is 
small, but tolerably well built and fortified. The 
harbour is formed by a low island to the north-west, 
and banks covered with mangrove trees, which shelter 
it on every side. It is deep and capacious. An ex- 
cellent wharf, faced with stone, allows of vessels of a 
large burthen being laid close alongside of it ; and as 
they can be easily and securely fastened to the shore, 
anchors are here seldom necessary. To this circum- 
stance, in which it resembles the harbour of Curacoa, 
Puerto Cabello is said to owe its name, as implying 
that vessels may there be secured by a single hair.* 
The island is strongly fortified ; and the batteries, 
being low and mounted with heavy cannon, are capa- 
ble of making a good defence. Towards the land, the 
works are not so strong, and the whole is within 
reach of bomb-shot from the first heights to the south- 
ward of the town, some of which are fortified. 

" This harbour and La Guayra form a striking 
contrast. Here vessels lie, as in a small smooth lake, 
while the waves break high upon the outside of the 

* Humboldt, however, is more disposed to adopt the opinion 
which derives the name of the place from Antonio Cabello, " one 
of the fishermen with whom the smugglers of Curacoa had formed 
an intimate connexion, at the time when the first hamlet was con- 
structed on this half-desert part of the coast." 



204 



COLOMBIA. 



island and along the shore. In return for this, the 
worm makes great rayages in the bottom of such ships 
as are not coppered. In no part of the world is it 
more destructive ; and a small vessel, left unattended, 
in a very few months would founder at her moorings 
from this cause alone. 

" The plain in which Puerto Cabello stands, is 
bounded on the south by mountains, and on the north 
by the sea, and is no where more than two miles in 
breadth. To the west, a small river descends from 
the mountains, and empties itself Into the sea. To 
the south-east of the town, the flats are annually 
flooded by the rains ; and the exhalations from them 
are very probably the cause of the destructive fevers 
which so frequently rage here in the summer and 
autumn months. Few strangers can then visit this 
port with impunity, or at least without great danger ; 
and there have been instances of vessels losing the 
greater part of their crews in a very short time. This, 
however, has not prevented the rapid increase of the 
place, which was originally confined within the works 
upon the small peninsula, out of which no houses 
were for some time allowed to be built. At first, low 
huts were erected, under the express condition of 
being demolished in case of an enemy's approach ; 
and in a long interval of years, during which no hos- 
tile force appeared, these huts were gradually enlarged 
and increased. The suburbs now exceed the town in 
population and extent, but still retain their low and 
mean appearance, and are subject to the original sti- 
pulations in case of danger. A great proportion of 
the houses have no upper story ; and the population 
being almost entirely coloured, a stranger is more apt 
to consider the whole as a large Indian village, than as 
part of a European settlement. 



COLOMBIA. 



205 



" About a league to the westward of Puerto Cabello, 
is the small bay of Burburata, used as a port previously 
to the establishment of the former. The road to it 
leads across the marshy plain of Puerto Cabello to the 
side of the hills, along which it winds for some time, 
until it again crosses a sandy flat, and brings us to 
the opening of the valley of Burburata. The bottom 
of this valley is level, or very gently sloped towards 
the sea, and consists of a deep, rich mould, everywhere 
covered with banana trees, mimosas, triplaris, and 
plantations of sugar, coffee, and cacao. The latter 
are easily distinguished by the tall erithrynas which 
shade the cacao theobroma, and are covered with clus- 
ters of red flowers. As they rise with a straight 
stem, they permit a free circulation of air beneath, 
while their tufted tops effectually exclude the scorch- 
ing rays of the sun. Houses and clusters of huts are 
scattered about among the trees, and a kind of church 
marks what may be considered as the centre of the vil- 
lage of Burburata. A small stream serves to irrigate 
the numerous plantations. The population is entirely a 
coloured race, in which is a great proportion of Indian 
blood. The air of the valley is moist and hot ; and 
snakes abound in the luxuriant herbage which every 
where covers the soil. One of these crossed my path, 
and another, large and yellow with dark spots, lay 
basking beneath a bush, into which he glided on my 
approach. Mountains, covered with wood, enclose 
this fertile flat on every side, except a small opening 
towards the sea. Here, lower down, was formerly the 
principal port on the coast. Vessels drawing ten or 
twelve feet water can anchor in a bight near the shore ; 
the bottom is a fine white sand ; and Burburata is 
still the chief port from which the mules, horses, and 

PART II. N 



206 



COLOMBIA. 



cattle of Venezuela, are exported to Jamaica and 
- other islands of the West Indies." 

Of the tract of country which stretches westward 
of Valencia, towards the Lake of Maracaybo, com- 
prising the provinces of Coro, Truxillo, and Merida, 
little is known. Humboldt states generally, that it 
displays a singular variety of scenery, and he gives the 
following outline of its physical features. A chain of 
low mountains, extending from the nevado of Merida to 
the N.E., separates the head waters of the Apure and 
Orinoco from the streams which fall into the Caribbean 
Sea, or the Lake of Maracaybo. On this dividing 
ridge are built the towns of Nirgua, San Felipe el 
Fuerte, Barquesimeto, and Tocuyo. The first three 
are in a very hot climate, but Tocuyo is built in a 
valley sufficiently elevated to allow of the cultivation 
of wheat and the rearing of sheep.* 

The valleys which traverse this ridge are fer- 
tile, but hot and pestilential. The principal valleys 
are those of the rivers Aroa and Yaracuy, which, 
but for the miasmata that infect the atmosphere, 
would probably be scarcely less populous than the 
valleys of Aragua. The Aroa rises to the west of San 
Felipe, and, running eastward, enters the sea opposite 
the islands called Los Cayos de San Juan, beyond the 
bay of Burburata. In a lateral valley, opening into 
that of Aroa, the Indians have gold-washings, and the 
soil conceals rich copper ores, which no one has yet 
attempted to extract. The ancient copper-mines of 
Aroa, after being long neglected, had recently been 

* Barquesimeto and Tocuyo lie in the road from Caracas to 
Bogota, and will be subsequently noticed. 



COLOMBIA. 



207 



wrought anew at the time of Humboldt's visit, and 
yielded from 1,200 to 1,500 quintals a year. The 
" Caracas copper" is said to be preferable to that of 
either Sweden or Chili. Some silver ore had recently 
been discovered between Aroa and Nirgua, in the 
mountain of San Pablo. Grains of gold are found 
in all the mountainous lands between the Yaracuy and 
the towns of San Felipe, Nirgua, and Barquesimeto ; 
especially in the Rio de Santa Cruz, in which the 
Indians have sometimes found lumps of the value of 
four or five dollars. The Yaracuy rises 40 leagues S. 
of the Aroa, but does not become navigable till within 
two leagues of the town of San Felipe, where the 
produce of the valley of San Felipe and the plain of 
Barquesimeto is shipped for Puerto Cabello : it falls 
into the bay of Burburata, between that port and the 
point of Chichiribiche. The city of Nueva Segovia de 
Bariquisimeto was originally founded, in 1552, on the 
banks of the River Buria, in the vicinity of the gold 
mines of the valley of Nirgua ; but the insalubrity of 
the climate led to its being thrice removed. It now 
stands on an elevated plain, 77 leagues W.S.W. of 
Caracas, in lat. 9° 35', long. 69° 43' W.* Wheat, the 
cane, cocoa, and coffee, are cultivated in the fertile 
lands in its vicinity. 

Nirgua is inhabited wholly by Zamboes, the mixed 
caste formed by negroes and Indians. The whole 
municipality is composed of men of colour, to whom 
the king of Spain was accustomed to give the title of 
44 his faithful and loyal subjects, the Zamboes of Nir- 
gua." The lieutenant de justicia mayor, was the only 

** Depons makes it only forty leagues from Caracas, and one 
hundred and fifty from Santa F6 ; Lavaysse says, ninety leagues 
from Caracas, and a hundred from Bogota ! 



208 



COLOMBIA. 



officer who could be a white. This " republic of 
Zamboes," as the Spaniards styled it in derision, origi- 
nated in an insurrection among the negro-miners of 
the real (mine) de San Felipe de Buria, which led to 
a short-lived petty African monarchy, like that of the 
Palmarese negroes in Brazil.* King Miguel had the 
boldness to attack the town of Barquesimeto, but was 
repulsed by Diego de Losada, and perished in the 
fight. The city is now in decay ; the population 
is stated by Depons at about 3,000 souls. He 
describes the inhabitants as robust, strong, and 
healthy, but lazy and addicted to drunkenness, theft, 
and every species of vice. Nirgua is in lat. 10° N., 
long. 71° 10' W. of Paris ; about 48 leagues W. of 
Caracas. 

LAKE OF MARACAYBO. 

From Barquesimeto to the eastern shore of the 
Lake of Maracaybo, there extend barren savannas 
partly covered with cactus, and loaded with pestilen- 
tial miasmata. No marshy ground is found there, but 
several phenomena indicate a disengagement of sul- 
phuretted hydrogen. On a mountainous and unin- 
habited spot on the bank of the Rio Catatumbo, not 
far from its junction with the Rio Sulia, is found the 
luminous phenomenon known under the name of the 
farol (lantern) of Maracaybo, which is distinguished 
at the distance of 40 leagues, and serves as a light- 
house to navigators. In the Llano of Monai, tra- 
vellers are shewn a cave [Cueva del Serrito de 
Monai), where "it is usual to frighten them by 
setting fire to the inflammable gas which is constantly 



* See Mod. Trav., Brazil, vol. i. p. 44. 



COLOMBIA. 



209 



accumulated in the upper part of the cavern." In 
the Quebrada de Moroturo, there has been discovered 
a stratum of black clay, which emits a strong smell of 
sulphur, and inflames spontaneously when slightly 
moistened, and exposed for a length of time to the 
sun's rays : the detonation of this muddy substance is 
said to be very violent.* These insalubrious regions 
are separated by the mountains of Tocuyo and Nirgtia 
from the plains of the Portuguesa, and the steppes of 
Calabozo. 

The Lake of Maracaybo is a little mediterranean, 
communicating with a gulf of the same name, by a 
channel about two leagues broad and eight long. 
Its waters, nevertheless, are sweet, and fit for use ; 
but, when the wind blows inward with violence, the 
sea-water rushes into the lake, and communicates to 
them a brackish property. The lake is not subject 
to tempests ; the north-wind, however, occasionally 
produces a short and broken swell, which does injury 
to the smaller craft. Depons describes it as nearly of 
the figure of a decanter, extending from south to 
north, with its neck communicating with the sea. 

* ™ On the north-west shore of the Lake of Maracaybo, is an 
extensive mine of asphaltum, of the same nature as that of Trini- 
dad." — Lavaysse, p. 41. " To the north-east of the lake, in the 
most barren part of the borders, at a place called Mena, there is an 
inexhaustible mine of mineral pitch (pix montana). The bitu- 
minous vapours which are exhaled from this mine are so easily 
inflamed, that, during the night, phosphoric fires are continually 
seen, which, in their effect, resemble lightning. It is remarked, 
that they are more frequent in great heat than in cool weather. 
They go by the name of f the Lantern of Maracaybo,' because 
they serve for a light-house and compass to the Spaniards and 
Indians, who, without the assistance of either, navigate the lake." 
■ — Detons, vol. i. p. 70. For an account of the Yanar, or volcanic 
flame of Deliktash, apparently a similar phenomenon* see Syria 
and Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 245. 



210 



COLOMBIA. 



" Its length, from the bar to its most southern recess, 
is, according to Oviedo, 50 leagues ; its greatest 
breadth, 30 ; and its circumference, upwards of 150. 
The lake is easily navigated, and has depth of water 
for vessels of the greatest burden. All the produce and 
provisions of the interior, intended for consumption or 
shipping at Maracaybo, are conveyed by the rivers 
which discharge themselves into it." Of these, there 
are above twenty, the most considerable of which are the 
Sulia (or Pamplona River), the Motatan, the Chama, 
the Catumbo, the Cuernos, the Torondoy, and the 
Peri j a.* All the different species of fish found in 
the rivers of South America, Depons says, abound in 
this lake ; but the tortoise is not found here. There 
are manatis (sea-cows), of an extraordinary size. At 
a short distance from the lake there are still found 
several barbarous tribes. " The sterility," says the 
last-mentioned traveller, u and, what is worse, the 
noxious atmosphere of the borders of the lake, dis- 

* The river Sulia, the chief of those which fall into the lake* 
rises in the province of Pamplona, and runs constantly northward, 
collecting the waters of many rivers : after forming a great lake, 
called El Barardero, near the city of Grita, it enters the Lake of 
Maracaybo by three mouths. This river now gives its name to a 
department comprising the whole basin of the lake. Lavaysse 
apparently refers to this river under the name of Subio. 1 f The 
most considerable rivers that fall into the lake," he says, " are the 
Subio and the Matacau (Motatan?); for the Souba and the 
Cuervos (Cuemos), though wide at their mouths, are only creeks 
fed by torrents." (p. 40.) The latter, however, according to Alcedo, 
is a branch of the Palmas. Besides the rivers mentioned above, 
Alcedo's Dictionary enumerates the San Pedro, the Paurate, the 
Catumbo, which, it is stated, enters by three mouths, the Arinas, 
the Rio de Oro, the Sucui, and the Astillero ; all, except the first, 
coming from the west. We in vain look for these in the maps. 
Instead of these names, we find in the map prefixed to Capt. Coch- 
rane's Travels, the Segba, the Rio Palmas, the Rio de la Cruz, the 
Arancao, the Perija, the Rio Negro, the Olaga, and the Pampano. 



COLOMBIA. 



courage culture and population. The Indians them- 
selves have at all times observed them to be so un- 
healthy, that instead of fixing their abodes there, 
they preferred dwelling on the lake itself. They 
chose for the stakes of the huts which they inhabited 
on the water, a very durable kind of wood, of the 
same species as the iron-wood. The Spaniards found 
on this lake several villages, built without order or 
design, but with solidity, to which they give the name 
of Venezuela. Alfinger, in the rage of devastation, 
carried desolation and death among the peaceable 
inhabitants. Only four villages escaped. It was for 
a long time believed, that these small settlements were 
formed upon the waters as a protection from ferocious 
beasts or some hostile nation. That this idea was 
erroneous, is now apparent from the refusal of the 
Indians, who live on the waters, to fix their habitation 
on land. Those villages are called Lagunillas, Misoa, 
Tumopora, and Moporo. They have a church upon 
the water, under the care of a curate, whose zeal 
is unequivocal, as it is rare for a person not to have 
his health affected within fifteen days after his 
arrival, and still rarer for his life to be prolonged 
beyond six months. These Indians go ashore in 
search of provisions, but their principal subsistence is 
derived from fishing and hunting wild ducks. 

" The goodness of the soil in the western part has 
induced some Spaniards, regardless of the insalubrity 
of the air, to fix their habitations there, in order 
to raise cocoa and provisions. These settlements, 
which are very much dispersed, were not able to com- 
mand sufficient funds for laying the foundation of 
a village, much less of a town. There is but one 
chapel, placed nearly in the centre of the scattered 
habitations, and a curate for performing divine service 



212 



COLOMBIA. 



and administering the sacraments. The southern 
extremity of the lake is uncultivated and uninhabited. 
The northern part is quite as hot as the other parts, 
but incomparably healthier. The city of Maracaybo 
is situated on the left bank to the west : opposite to it 
are two villages ; the one called Punta a Plectra, 
inhabited by Indians, the other, Altagracia, further 
to the north, by Spaniards." 

When the name of Venezuela was extended to the 
whole district of Caracas, the country surrounding the 
lake received that of the province of Maracaybo. 
Santa Ana de Coro, the original capital, was the first 
settlement of the Spaniards, after Cumana, on this 
line of coast. It takes its name from the aborigines, 
the Coriana Indians. The audiencia of San Domingo 
sent Juan de Ampues there in 1529, in the capacity of 
governor, principally with a view to restrain the rob- 
beries and cruelties of the Spanish traders who in- 
fested those coasts. Scarcely had the country begun 
to recover under his administration, when, by virtue of 
the contract made between Charles the Fifth and the 
Weltzers, it became for eight years the head quarters 
of a band of unprincipled adventurers, who spread 
desolation through the country. On its reverting to 
the Spanish government, it continued to be the resi- 
dence of the governor till 1576. Coro had been made 
an episcopal city in 1532. The bishopric, as has been 
mentioned, was not formally transferred to Caracas 
till 1693. The town stands in a dry, sandy plain, 
destitute of water, and where no vegetation is seen, 
but the prickly pear and the u thorny taper," — sure 
signs of a sterile soil ; but, at the distance of three 
leagues from the city, there are hills and valleys 
of some fertility. It stands near the isthmus which 
unites the peninsula of Paragoana to the main land, 



COLOMBIA. 



213 



one league from the sea, 80 leagues W. of Caracas, 
33 N. of Barquesimeto, and 55 from Maracaybo ; 
lat. 11° 24' N., long. 69° 40' W. Ten thousand per- 
sons of all colours, including scarcely 200 slaves, 
formed the population in 1807. All labour is per- 
formed by the Indians. The whites were distin- 
guished by their indolence and loyalty. Many gloried 
in being descended from the first conquerors, and 
they would have felt their honour stained by any 
species of industrious exertion. Hence, there was at 
Coro " more nobility than wealth." As the city has 
neither spring nor aqueduct, water is brought in bar- 
rels from the distance of half a league. 66 Here- 
tofore," says Depons, " the houses were well built. 
They cannot now be looked at without exciting melan- 
choly, bearing the marks of the ravages of time and 
misery. Those, of the Indians are still more pitiable. 
The streets, although straight, are not paved. The 
only public edifices consecrated to religion, are two 
parish churches, one of which still bears the title of a 
cathedral, a Franciscan monastery, containing seven 
or eight monks, and three chapels." The little com- 
merce that is carried on, is in mules, goats, hides, 
sheep-skins, cheese, &c. 5 from the interior, which are 
shipped for the neighbouring islands, especially Cu- 
racoa, whence are brought back dry goods. The 
graziers of Paragoana smuggle over, also, numbers of 
beasts to that island. To these articles, Lavaysse adds 
indigo and cochineal from the district of Carora. 

San Juan Bautista del Portillo de Carora is situated 
thirty leagues south of Coro, in the savannas, fifteen 
leagues east of the Lake of Maracaybo, twelve north 
of Tocuyo, and eighteen north-west of Barquesimeto, 
which lies in the road from Carora to Caracas. The 
town is tolerably well built, and contains a handsome 



214 



COLOMBIA. 



parish church, a Franciscan convent, and a hermitage. 
The temperature, though hot, is salubrious ; but the 
soil is dry and sterile. It abounds, however, with 
the Indian fig {cactus opuntia) and other thorny 
plants, as well as some balsam-trees ; and the vegeta- 
tion supplies excellent pasture, especially for goats. 
There are numerous herds of oxen, which are bred 
chiefly for their hides, as well as of asses and mules ; 
and the dwarf deer of South America is very common. 
The inhabitants, who are, for the most part, Mesti- 
zoes, Mulattoes, and Indians, are very industrious. 
They are graziers, tanners, saddlers, shoemakers, 
weavers, ropemakers ; and make excellent packthread 
and very handsome hammocks of the fibre of the 
agave fcetida ; carrying on a great trade in these 
articles and other products of their industry, with 
Coro, Maracaybo, and Cartagena, whence they are 
shipped for the neighbouring colonies. The town 
and district contained, in 1807, a population of about 
10,000 souls. 

Maracaybo, or Nueva Zamora, situated on the 
left bank of the lake, at six leagues from the sea, was 
founded in 1571. It stands in the midst of a sandy 
plain, without any stratum of vegetable earth, in lat. 
10° 30' N., long. 74° 6' W. of Paris. The climate is 
intensely hot, and, during July and August, almost 
insupportable, the air feeling as if it issued from a 
furnace ; yet, it is reckoned healthy, because there 
prevail no endemic complaints. The south wind, 
however, which sometimes blows in August and 
September, is much dreaded, and is called El Virason 
(the arrow), on account of its insalubrity. Violent 
storms are frequent. The thunder is dreadful, and 
the lightning frequently strikes and consumes houses, 
ships, and every thing that attracts it. The deluges 



COLOMBIA. 



215 



of rain which sometimes attend these tempests, pro*, 
duce rapid torrents which injure the town. The in- 
habitants have remarked, that, when these storms do 
not occur, earthquakes, still more dreaded, are likely 
to happen instead. The population in 1801 was com- 
puted to be 24,000, including about 2,000 Spanish 
refugees from St. Domingo. The slaves were calcu- 
lated not to exeeed 5,000 ; and the freed Blacks were 
very few, but the trades were chiefly carried on by 
them. The parish church is large and handsome. 
Alcedo mentions four monasteries, Augustinian, Mer- 
cedarian, Dominican, and Franciscan, four nunneries, 
and a hospital of San Juan de Dios ; but the Fran- 
ciscan convent is the only one, according to Depons, 
now existing. The only water is that of the lake, 
which is by no means bad in quality, except when the 
strong breezes of March and April drive up the water 
of the sea; and the rain-water collected in cisterns 
and jars. For upwards of twenty leagues towards 
the serrania (or mountain ridge), there is no other 
water for even the cattle, than the rain-water preserved 
in the wells {xahueys) dug for that purpose. Depons 
draws a very favourable picture, in some respects, of 
the character of the inhabitants. 

" The habit," he says, " which the citizens of 
Maracaybo contract from their infancy, of sailing on 
the lake, whether for pleasure, fishing, or the trans- 
port of the articles its southern borders produce, gives 
them, at a very early period, a taste for navigation. 
Soon finding in this place no means of indulging in 
the practice of it, they repair in crowds to Puerto 
Cabello, Guayra, and the other ports, where a more 
active navigation serves at the same time to give 
them employment, and gratify their ambition. They 
perform with equal ability, coasting, or longer voyages. 



216 



COLOMBIA. 



In those intervals when war suspends their commer- 
cial enterprises, they embark on board privateers. 
But, whatever line they pursue, they never belie the 
reputation they possess of being as good soldiers as 
sailors. The neighbourhood of the lake, in the waters 
of which they exercise themselves in their early years, 
renders them as excellent swimmers as expert divers. 

" Those who resist the attractions of the sea, raise 
herds of cattle, or take care of those of their fathers. 
Nothing better evinces their aptitude for this species 
of occupation, than the immense number of beasts 
with which the savannas of Maracaybo are covered. 
The principal ones are those of Jobo, Ancon, Pal- 
mares, and Cannades. I ought to mention, that there 
is more merit in raising cattle in the savannas of 
Maracaybo, than in any other place in these provinces ; 
because, having neither rivers nor ponds that never 
dry up, drought occasions the death of many, in spite 
of the precautions they take, in cases of this sort, to 
drive thern towards those parts where they can with 
convenience water them. 

46 But what does more honour to the inhabitants of 
Maracaybo, is their singularly lively wit, their appli- 
cation to literature, and the progress they make, not- 
withstanding the wretched state of public education 
among them. While the Jesuits were charged with 
the instruction of youth, their schools produced indi- 
viduals who spoke Latin with an elegance and fluency 
rarely met with ; possess iog perfectly the art of ora- 
tory, and masters of the rules of poetry ; writing their 
language in a style as remarkable for its purity as the 
boldness of its ideas, and the order and perspicuity 
with which they were presented ; in a word, endowed 
with every qualification that constitutes the man of 
letters. The expulsion of these learned preceptors 



COLOMBIA. 



took from the youth of Maracaybo every means of 
instruction. 

" Notwithstanding the barrenness of resources 
which education finds at Maracaybo, we there see 
young persons so favoured by nature, that the slight- 
est elementary instruction at once develops in them 
all the faculties which, in Europe, do not manifest 
themselves until after long study and the care of the 
best teachers. What adds to the singularity of the 
phenomenon is, that this excess of natural genius 
frequently becomes prejudicial to the tranquillity of 
the families of Maracaybo ; for it is enough for many 
of these young men to know the conjugation and 
government of the verbs, to be qualified to write 
pieces, whose subtilty would appear to the knavish 
advocate, better than the productions of the counsel 
who establishes his reasons on the principles of the 
civil law. Such suits as should never have been in- 
stituted, or which the tribunals would instantly have 
decided, become interminable and ruinous, by the 
sophisms with which these scribblers envelop in dark- 
ness, causes the most simple and clear. This disease, 
very prevalent at Maracaybo, is by no means a 
stranger to other Spanish territories. The penal 
laws which the legislature has been forced to enact, 
to lessen the number of these imps of chicane, whom 
they call pendolistas (quick writers), prove that the evil 
is general enough. 

" In allowing that the inhabitants of Maracaybo 
have activity, courage, and genius, we have nothing 
more to say in their favour. They are reproached 
with having very little regard to their word, and with 
thinking themselves not bound by their signature, 
until after they have in vain endeavoured to release 

PART II. O 



218 



COLOMBIA, 



themselves from it by law. Their reputation in this 
respect is so well established, that all strangers whom 
business draws to Maracaybo, say, it is much better to 
form connexions of interest with the women than 
with the men, because they alone have there that 
good faith and firmness which, in every other part, is 
the peculiar heritage of the men. 

" Since the course of description has led me to 
speak of the women of Maracaybo, I ought not to let 
it be unknown, that they are in their youth paragons 
of modesty ; in marriage, faithful wives and excellent 
mothers of families. Affection for their husbands, 
the cares of their households, and the education of 
their children, are the objects which divide all their 
moments, and occupy all their solicitude." 

As M. Depons does not attempt to account for this 
very remarkable purity of morals in this particular 
settlement, we can only express our hope that his 
account may still be found applicable. 

The government of Maracaybo, after it was made 
a distinct province, was bounded, on the west, by the 
government of Rio Hacha ; southward, it extended 
more than 100 leagues to that of Santa Fe, but the 
fertile land does not commence for more than 25 
leagues south of the city; on the east, it was bounded 
by Venezuela. At first, the seat of government was 
fixed at Merida ; but ultimately, Maracaybo became 
the capital, and gave its name to the province. The 
districts of Coro, Truxillo, Merida, and Maracaybo, 
now form separate provinces, comprehended in the 
department of Sulia. 

Truxillo is said to have been one of the most beauti- 
ful and opulent cities in the country, before it was pil- 
laged and burned by the pirate Gramont in 1678. The 



COLOMBIA. 



219 



greater part of the population then fled to Merida. 
Yet, the salubrity of the air, and the fertility of the soil, 
Depons says, have gradually attracted thither a popu- 
lation of 7,600 persons. The town is built in a very 
narrow valley, shut in by two mountains, which allow 
of only a single street in one part, and of two streets in 
the widest part. The adjacent lands produce sugar, 
cocoa, indigo, coffee, and wheat ; the mutton is larger 
and finer than that of any other part of the province ; 
the cheeses are held in high estimation ; and the in- 
habitants are famed for the cleansing and carding of 
their wool. There is also a considerable trade in pre- 
serves, which are made by the women. The inter- 
course chiefly pursued is with Carora, across the 
pestiferous llanos of Llonay, and with Maracaybo, by 
the lake. The town contains a parish church, a 
chapel of Calvary, two monasteries, Dominican and 
Franciscan, a Dominican nunnery, and a hospital 
dedicated to Our Lady of Chiquinquira. 

Merida, situated to the south-west of Truxillo, 
was founded in 1558, under the name of Santiago de 
los Caballeros de Merida. It stands in an elevated 
plain, surrounded by three rivers, the Mucujun (or 
Mucusin) on the east, the Albarregas on the south- 
west, and the Chama on the south, which, at the 
distance of three leagues, receives the other two. 
None of them are navigable. The climate is tempe- 
rate, but variable, and liable to heavy rains : it is 
favourable to the cultivation of wheat, barley, and 
both the European and tropical fruits and vegetables. 
The cocoa and coffee raised in the environs are 
esteemed of excellent quality. Merida is an episcopal 
city, and possesses a college or seminary ; it contained 
also a parochial church, four chapels, two monasteries, 
Augustinian and Dominican, and a nunnery of the 



220 



COLOMBIA. 



order of Santa Clara. The population is stated by 
Depons at 11,500. It is now reduced to between 3 or 
4000. The inhabitants bore a high character for in- 
dustry and intelligence, and there are said to have 
been no lazzaroni. There was a carpet-manufactory, 
and the natives fabricated various cotton and wool- 
len articles.* 

PROVINCE OF VARINAS. 

It was only so late as 1787, tnat tne &ty of Varinas 
was detached from the government of Maracaybo, to 
become itself the seat of a separate government, com- 
prehending a portion also of the province of Caracas* 
This fine territory, which, previously to that period, 
had been almost entirely neglected by the mother 
country, has since then increased very considerably 
both in cultivation and population, and contained, in 
1807, upwards of 140,000 inhabitants. It still in- 
cludes, however, besides the capital, only three towns, 
San Jayme, San Fernando d'Apure, and Pedraza ; 
and may therefore be considered as little better than 
an immense wilderness. The city of Varinas, situ- 
ated in lat. 7° 33' N., loag. 70° 22' W., had a popu- 
lation of 12,000 souls; San Jayme 7,000; San Fer- 
nando 6,000 ; and Pedraza 3,000. 44 This country, 
in fact," M. Lavaysse remarks, 64 is still in its in- 
fancy, though its territory is not inferior in fertility 
to any other part of South America. It is only 
within the last twenty years, that sugar, coffee, indigo, 
and cotton, have been cultivated there. Formerly, 
the inhabitants grew only cocoa and the provisions 
necessary for their own consumption. Their articles 

* See, for a further description, the route from Caracas to 
Bogota. 



COLOMBIA. 



of exportation were cattle and tobacco, the latter 
famous in every market in the world. The inhabit- 
ants lead a pastoral life, surrounded with numerous 
herds. Though in the midst of abundance, great 
natural wealth, and all the necessaries of life, they 
have not the means of purchasing any thing belonging 
to the luxury of dress, furniture, and European 
liquors, because they have no direct communication 
with the neighbouring colonies ; and being placed in 
the interior of the country, they are obliged to sell 
their produce and cattle, at a miserable price, to the 
smugglers of San Tome de Angostura, and of Caracas. 
But, when the present contest terminates, and freedom 
of trade follows, it will become one of the richest and 
best-peopled in this part of the world; for, in general, 
its climate is not less healthy than its soil is fertile. 
There are few indigenous natives in this province : 
they are almost all assembled in a mission of the 
Andalusian capuchins, situated at five or six leagues 
from San Fernando de Apure. I believe there may 
be about 600 of them. Other civilised Indians live 
with the whites and mestizoes in the pastures. There 
are scarcely 6,000 slaves in the population of the pro- 
vince of Varinas, and these are only slaves in name, 
for they live in the greatest familiarity with their 
masters, and are equally well fed, lodged, and 
clothed." 

The principal channel of trade has hitherto been 
through Valencia to Puerto Cabello. There is a line 
of communication from Buria, through Merida, to 
the Lake of Maracaybo ; but the distance is con- 
siderable, and the road almost impracticable. The 
communication with Coro through Barquesimeto is 
easier, but the distance is too great for commercial 
purposes. u There can be little doubt," Col. Hall 



222 



COLOMBIA. 



says, u that, in an improved state of the country, the 
water-carriage by the Apure and the Orinoco will be 
preferred, from the great difficulty and expense of 
transporting bulky articles of produce, on mules, to 
any of the northern ports." From Valencia to Varinas 
is a distance of 210 miles.* Almost the whole of this 
extensive tract consists of excellent pasture -lands. 
The borders of the rivers are finely wooded, and will 
be adapted, when cleared, to the growth of every 
species of tropical produce, while the neighbouring 
mountains furnish the productions of temperate cli- 
mates. The principal rivers are navigable during the 
rainy season. The San Domingo and the Masperro 
descend directly into the Apure. The Bruno, the 
Guanan, and almost all the smaller rivers, unite with 
the Portuguesa, which falls into the Apure near San 
Fernando, whence the navigation is easy and direct 
to Angostura on the Orinoco. 

The road from Valencia to San Fernando is de- 
scribed by Humboldt, who, with his friend Bonpland, 
traversed these immense savannas, and descended the 
Apure to its junction with the Orinoco in lat. 7°« 



* Col. Hall gives the following 
Leagues. 

From Varinas — 



To Yucca 2| 

— Bananias • • • • lsj 

— Bocono 4 

— Tucupis 4 

— Guanare 3 

— San Rafael 5 

— Ospinos 4^ 

— Aparicion 3 

— Acarigua 4^ 

— Araure ' 1^ 

— Aguas Hamas , . . . 2 



35J 



itinerary from Varinas : 

Leagues. 



Brought over 35^ 

To San Rafael 2 

— La Ceyba 4 

— San Jose • 3^ 

— San Carlos 0£ 

— Tinaco 4£ 

— La Palma 3 

— Tinaquilla 3£ 

— Carabobo • • 7 

— Tomito • 2 

— Valencia ♦ • • 3 



68£ 



COLOMBIA. 



223 



We shall now again avail ourselves of his interesting 
narrative. 

FROM VALENCIA TO SAN FERNANDO D'APURE. 

The Travellers bade adieu to the Valley of Aragua 
on the 6th of March (1807), passing over a richly- 
cultivated plain, and crossing ground on the south- 
west side of the Lake of Valencia, which the waters 
had left uncovered. The soil was covered with cale- 
bashes, water-melons, and plantains. Between the 
ancient islets of Don Pedro and La Negra, they saw 
numerous bands of araguatoes, or howling monkeys,* 
going in procession from one tree to another with ex- 
treme slowness. A male was followed by a great 

* The araguato of Caripe, Humboldt describes as a new species 
of the genus stentor, to which he gives the name of alouate ourse, 
or simia ursina. " It resembles a young bear. It is three feet long, 
reckoning from the top of the head, which is small and very pyra- 
midal, to the beginning of the prehensile tail. Its fur is bushy and 
of a reddish brown ; the breast and belly are both covered with a 
fine hair ; the face is of a blackish blue, covered with a fine and 
wrinkled skin ; the beard is pretty long ; and, notwithstanding the 
direction of the facial line, the angle of which is only 30°, the ara- 
guato has, in the look and the expression of the countenance, 
as much resemblance to man as the marimondo (simia belzebuth) 
and the capuchin of the Orinoco (simia chiropotes). Its eye, voice, 
and gait denote melancholy. I have seen young araguatoes 
brought up in Indian huts : they never play like the little sagoins ; 
and their gravity was described with much simplicity by Lopez de 
Gomara in the beginning of the sixteenth century. « The Aranata of 
the Cumanese,' says this Author, * has the face of a man, the 
beard of a goat, and a grave behaviour — honrado gesto.' I have 
observed, that monkeys are more melancholy in proportion as they 
have more resemblance to man : their petulant gaiety diminishes, 
as their intellectual faculties appear to increase." — Pers. Narr. 
vol. iii. pp. 170 — 2. The araguato of Aragua appears to be of 
the same species : the tongue is placed on a large boney drum, and 
the air, driven with force into this drum, produces the mournful 
sound which distinguishes the araguatoes. 



224 



COLOMBIA. 



number of females, several of which carried their 
young on their shoulders. The uniformity with 
which they execute their movements, is described to 
be very striking. " Whenever the branches of the 
neighbouring trees do not touch, the male that leads 
the band, suspends himself by the prehensile part of 
his tail, and, letting fall the rest of his body, swings 
himself till he reaches the neighbouring branch. The 
whole file perform the same action on the same spot." 
The assertions of Ulloa and other travellers respecting 
their sometimes forming a chain, in order to reach the 
opposite side of a river, the learned Traveller con- 
siders as unworthy of credit. The Indians have either 
a hatred or a predilection for certain races of monkeys. 
The little sagoins are their favourites, but the aragua- 
toes, on account of their mournful aspect and their 
monotonous howlings, are detested by them. They 
maintain that there is always one that chaunts as 
leader of the band ; and the observation, Humboldt 
says, is pretty accurate. " During a long time, one 
solitary and strong voice is generally distinguished, 
which is succeeded by another voice of a different 
pitch. We may observe the same instinct of imitation 
among frogs and almost all gregarious animals. The 
missionaries assert, moreover, that when a female 
araguato is on the point of bringing forth, the choir 
suspends its howlings till the moment of the birth, 
I could not myself judge of the accuracy of this state- 
ment, but I believe it to be not entirely destitute of 
foundation. I have observed that, when some extra- 
ordinary incident, for instance, the moans of a wounded 
araguato, fixed the attention of the band, the howlings 
Avere suspended for some minutes." In damp and 
stormy weather more especially, their howling is heard 
to a considerable distance. A great number will seat 



.COLOMBIA, 



225 



themselves on a single tree in the forests of Cumana 
and Guiana ; and the force and volume of their 
blended voices are then astonishing. 

The Travellers passed the night at the village of 
Guigue, 1,000 toises distant from the Lake of Va- 
lencia, — lat. 10° 4' ll". The road then begins to 
ascend the mountains, and from a table-land of nearly 
2,000 feet elevation, the last view is obtained of the 
valleys of Aragua. At the end of five leagues is the 
village of Maria Magdalena, and two leagues further, 
San Luis de Cura. This town, commonly called 
Villa de Cura, stands in a very dry and barren val- 
ley,* at an elevation of nearly 1,600 feet above the 
sea-level, in lat. 10° 2' 47". The surrounding coun- 
try, with the exception of some fruit-trees, is almost 
destitute of vegetation. The population, in 1800, 
was only 4,000 souls, but among them were found 
many persons of cultivated minds. The town is cele- 
brated for the possession of a wonder-working idol, 
called Nuestra Senhora de los Valeucianos, which 
was the subject of a long and scandalous contest be- 
tween Cura and the neighbouring town of San Sebas- 
tian de los Reyes. Some grains of gold are occa- 
sionally found in the beds of the torrents which tra- 
verse the neighbouring mountains. 

From the extensive table -land of the Villa de Cura, 
there are eight leagues of rather steep declivity to the 
beginning of the llanos, which are a thousand feet 
lower than the valley of Aragua. The geological 
features of the country now undergo a striking varia- 
tion,-)- the gneiss of the coast being succeeded by 

* So says Humboldt. Lavaysse represents it as situated in a 
fertile, though uncultivated valley, with a clayey soil. 

f The Sierra de Mariara, in the cordillera of the coast, is a 
coarse-grained granite. To this, in the basin of Aragua, succeed? 
o 2 



226 



COLOMBIA, 



metalliferous, serpentine, and trappean rocks. The 
road descends toward the bed of the Rio Tucutunemo, 
the longitudinal valley of which lies east and west, 
and then turns into a transverse valley, very narrow 
in several parts, passing the villages of Parapara and 
Ortiz. After skirting the Cerro de Flores^ it enters 
the valleys of Malpasso (so called from the badness of 
the road,) and Piedras Azules (blue stones, from the 
colour of the slate which predominates). At the 
Mesa de Paja, in lat. 9°, the traveller enters the 
basin of the llanos. 

THE LLANOS OR PLAINS. 

u There is something awful, but sad and gloomy," 
remarks the learned Traveller, " in the uniform 
aspect of these steppes. Every thing seems motion- 
less. Scarcely does a small cloud, as it passes across 
the zenith, and announces the approach of the rainy 
season, sometimes cast its shadow on the savanna. 
I know not whether the first aspect of the llanos ex- 
cites less astonishment than that of the Andes. 
Mountainous countries, whatever may be the absolute 
elevation of the highest summits, have an analogous 
physiognomy ; but we accustom ourselves with diffi- 
culty to the view of the Llanos of Venezuela and 
Casanare, the Pampas of Buenos Ayres and Chaco, 
which recall to mind continually, during journeys of 
twenty or thirty days, the smooth surface of the 
ocean. I had seen the plains of La Mancha in Spain, 
and the real steppes that extend from Jutland, through 

gneiss and mica-slate, which, near Guigue and Cura, are auri- 
ferous. South of Cura, are found, in succession, transition green 
slate, black limestone, serpentine and gruenstein, amygdaloid, and 
phonolite. 



COLOMBIA. 



227 



Luneberg and Westphalia, to Belgium ; but the plains 
of the West and North of Europe present but a feeble 
image of the immense llanos of South America, All 
around us, the plains seemed to ascend toward the 
sky ; and that vast and profound solitude appeared 
like an ocean covered with sea-weeds. According to 
the unequal mass of vapours diffused through the at- 
mosphere, and the various temperature of the different 
strata of air, the horizon was, in some parts, clear 
and distinct, in other parts, undulating, sinuous, and 
as if striped. The earth was there confounded with 
the sky. Through the dry fog and strata of vapour, 
the trunks of palm-trees were discerned at a great 
distance. Stripped of their foliage and their verdant 
tops, these trunks appeared like the masts of a ship 
discovered at the horizon. 

" The llanos and the pampas of South America are 
real steppes. They display a beautiful verdure in the 
rainy season, but, in the time of great drought, assume 
the aspect of a desert. The grass is then reduced to 
powder, the earth cracks, the alligator and the great 
serpents remain buried in the dried mud, till awakened 
from their long lethargy by the first showers of spring. 
These phenomena are observed on barren tracts of 
fifty or sixty leagues in length, wherever the savan- 
nas are not traversed by rivers ; for, on the borders 
of rivulets, and around little pools of stagnant water, 
the traveller finds at certain distances, even during 
the period of the great droughts, thickets of mauritia, 
— a palm the leaves of which, spread out like a fan, 
preserve a brilliant verdure. 

" The chief characteristic of the savannas or 
steppes of South America is, the absolute want of hills 
and inequalities, the perfect level of every part of the 
soil. Accordingly, the Spanish conquerors, who first 



228 



COLOMBIA. 



penetrated from Coro to the banks of the Apure, did 
not call them deserts, or savannas, or meadows, but 
plains, llanos. Often, in a space of thirty square 
leagues, there is not an eminence of a foot high. This 
resemblance to the surface of the sea strikes the ima- 
gination most powerfully, where the plains are alto- 
gether destitute of palm-trees, and where the moun- 
tains of the shore and of the Orinoco are so distant, 
that they cannot be seen, as in the Mesa de Pavones. 
A person would be tempted there, to take the altitude 
of the sun with a quadrant, if the horizon of the land 
were not constantly misty, on account of the variable 
display of refraction. This equality of surface is still 
more perfect in the meridian of Calabozo, than toward 
the east, between the Cari, La Villa del Pao, and 
Nueva Barcelona ; but it reigns without interruption 
from the mouths of the Orinoco to La Villa de 
Araure and Ospinos, under a parallel of 180 leagues 
in length ; and from San Carlos to the savannas of 
Caqueta, on a meridian of 200 leagues.* It particu- 
larly characterises the New Continent, as it does the 
low steppes of Asia, between the Borysthenes and the 
Wolga, between the Irtisch and the Obi. The deserts 
of central Africa, of Arabia, Syria, and Persia, Cobi, 
and Casna,-f- present, on the contrary, many inequali- 
ties, ranges of hills, ravines without water, and rocks 
that pierce the sands. 

" The llanos, however, notwithstanding the appa- 
rent uniformity of their surface, furnish two kinds of 
inequalities, that do not escape the observation of an 
attentive traveller. The first is known by the name 
of Bancos : they are real shoals in the basin of the 

* " In strictness from N.N.E. to S.S.W." 

t " Or Karak, between the laxartcs and the Oxus." 



COLOMBIA. 



229 



steppes, fractured strata of sandstone or compact 
limestone, standing four or five feet higher than the 
rest of the plain. These banks are sometimes three 
or four leagues in length ; they are entirely smooth, 
with a horizontal surface ; their existence is perceived 
only by examining their borders. The second species 
of inequality can be recognised only by geodesical or 
barometric levellings, or by the course of rivers. It 
is called mesa, and is composed of small flats, or rather 
convex eminences that rise insensibly to the height 
of a few toises. Such are, toward the east, in the 
province of Cumana, on the north of the Villa de la 
Merced and Candelaria, the Mesas of Amana, of 
Guanipa, and of Jonoro, the direction of which is 
south-west and north-east ; and which, in spite of 
their inconsiderable elevation, divide the waters be- 
tween the Orinoco and the northern coast of Terra 
Firma. The convexity of the savanna alone occa- 
sions this partition : we there find the divortia aqua- 
rum as in Poland, where, far from the Carpathian 
mountains, the plain itself divides the waters between 
the Baltic and the Black Sea. Geographers, who 
suppose that there exists a chain of mountains where- 
ever there is a line of division, have not failed to 
mark one in the maps, at the sources of the Rio 
Neveri, the Unare, the Guarapiche, and the Pao. 
Thus, the priests of Mongul race, according to ancient 
and superstitious custom, erect oboes, or little mounds 
of stone, on every point where the rivers flow in an 
opposite direction. 

u The uniform landscape of the llanos, the extreme 
paucity of inhabitants, the fatigue of travelling beneath 
a burning sky and an atmosphere darkened by dust, 
the view of that horizon which seems for ever to flee 
before us, those lonely trunks of palm-trees which 



230 



COLOMBIA, 



have all the same aspect, and which we despair of 
reaching because they are confounded with other 
trunks that rise by degrees on the visual horizon ; all 
these causes combined, make the steppes appear far 
greater than they are in reality. The planters who 
inhabit the southern declivity of the chain of the 
coast, see the steppes extend toward the south, as far 
as the eye can reach, like an ocean of verdure. They 
know, that, from the Delta of the Orinoco to the 
province of Varinas, and thence, by traversing the 
banks of the Meta, the G-uaviare, and the Caguan, 
they can advance 380 leagues* in the plains, first from 
east to west, and then from north-east to south-east 
beyond the equator, to the foot of the Andes of Pasto. 
They know, by the accounts of travellers, the Pampas 
of Buenos Ayres, which are also llanos covered with 
fine grass, destitute of trees, and filled with oxen and 
horses become wild. They suppose, according to the 
greater part of our maps of America, that this con- 
tinent has only one chain of mountains, that of the 
Andes, which stretches from south to north ; and 
they form a vague idea of the contiguity of all the 
plains, from the Orinoco and the Apure to the Rio 
de la Plata and the Straits of Magellan." 

After passing two nights on horseback, (for to travel 
over these bare savannas in the heat of the day, is 
next to impossible,) the Travellers arrived before the 
third night at the little grazing-farm {liato de ganado}*, 
called El Cayman (the alligator), otherwise, La Gua- 
dalupe. Here they found an old negro slave governing 
the establishment in the absence of the master. 44 He 
told us," says Humboldt, " of herds comprising 

* This is the distance from Tombuctoo to the northern coast of 
Africa. 



COLOMBIA, 



231 



several thousands of cows ; yet, we asked in vain for a 
bowl of milk. We were offered, in the shell of the 
tutumo, some yellow, muddy, fetid water, drawn 
from a neighbouring pool. The indolence of the 
inhabitants of the llanos is such, that they do not dig 
wells, although they know, that almost every where, 
at ten feet deep, fine springs are found in a stratum of 
red sandstone. After having suffered one half of the 
year from inundations, they patiently expose them- 
selves, during the other half, to the most distressing 
want of water. The old negro advised us to cover 
the cup with a linen cloth, and drink as through 
a filter, that we might not be incommoded by the 
smell, and that we might swallow less of the fine 
yellowish clay suspended in the water. We did not 
then think that we should afterward be forced, 
during whole months, to have recourse to this expe- 
dient. The waters of the Orinoco are alike loaded 
with earthy particles, and are even fetid where dead 
bodies of alligators are found in the creeks, lying 
on sand-banks, or half-buried in mud." 

The Travellers longed for the accustomed refresh- 
ment of bathing, but could find only a reservoir of 
feculent water, surrounded with palm-trees. They 
had begun, however, to enjoy the comparatively cool- 
ness of the water, when a noise on the opposite banks, 
occasioned by an alligator's plunging into the mud, 
made them leave their bath precipitately. They now 
attempted to return to the farm, from which they 
were only a quarter of a league distant ; but they had 
neglected to observe the direction they had taken, and 
for two hours they wandered over these pathless 
plains, till, fortunately, an Indian, in collecting the 
cattle, fell in with them, and acted as their guide. At 
two in the morning, they set out for Calabozo. There 



232 



COLOMBIA. 



was no moon-light, but the masses of nebula which 
adorn the southern hemisphere, enlightened, as they 
set, part of the horizon. 44 The solemn spectacle 
of the starry vault, displayed in all its immensity, the 
cool breeze which blows over the plain at night, and 
the waving motion of the high grass, all combined to 
recall to mind the surface of the ocean." At sun- 
rise, the plain assumes a more animated appearance, 
The cattle, which repose at night along the pools, or 
beneath clumps of palms, assemble in herds, and these 
solitudes seem peopled with horses, mules, oxen, and 
matacani, a species of deer, who are seen peacefully 
browzing in the midst of horses and oxen. The phe- 
nomenon of mirage displays itself in these savan- 
nas under various modifications : in the instances 
observed by Humboldt, the objects were seen sus- 
pended, but not inverted. A drove of wild oxen 
appeared, part with their legs raised above the 
ground, the other part resting on it. The magical 
apparition of large lakes with an undulating surface, 
is frequently to be seen. In crossing the Mesa of 
Calabozo, the heat was excessive, especially when hot 
gusts of wind came loaded with dust. The centigrade 
thermometer would then rise from 31° or 32° to 
40° or 41°. 

The town of Calabozo, situated between the Rivers 
Guarico and Uritucu, in lat. 8° 56' 8", long. 
70° 10' 40" W. of Paris, contained at this period 
only 5,000 inhabitants, whose wealth consisted in 
herds, but every thing denoted increasing prosperity. 
There are five villages, or missions, in its environs. 
Here, in the very midst of the llanos, the scientific 
Travellers found an individual of a kindred spirit, a 
M. Carlos de Pozo, who, without having ever seen a 
philosophical instrument, and -with no other instruc- 



COLOMBIA. 



233 



tion than what he had obtained from De la Fond's 
Treatise on Electricity and Franklin's Memoirs, had 
constructed a complete electrical apparatus. Till 
now, he had enjoyed only the astonishment and 
admiration produced by his experiments on persons 
destitute of all information, and who had never 
quitted the solitude of the llanos. The arrival of 
the learned Europeans gave him a satisfaction alto- 
gether new. They had brought with them elec- 
trometers, and a small Leyden phial which could 
be charged by friction ; and M. Pozo could not con- 
tain his joy at seeing, for the first time, instruments 
not made by himself, but which appeared to be copied 
from his own. Some galvanic experiments, also, 
highly delighted him by their novelty. " The names 
of Galvani and Volta had never before resounded in 
these vast solitudes." 

Next to the electrical apparatus of this self-taught 
philosopher, nothing at Calabozo excited so much 
interest in the Travellers, as the animated electrical 
machine, the gymnotus, or American torpedo, on 
which M. Humboldt made a series of highly satisfac- 
tory experiments. These electrical eels inhabit the 
Rio Colorado, the Gruarapiche, and several small 
streams which cross the Chayma missions, as well 
as the Orinoco, the Meta, and the Maranham ; and in 
the llanos, particularly in the environs of Calabozo, 
the pools of stagnant water, and the streams which 
fall into the Orinoco, are filled with them. They are 
at once dreaded and detested by the natives. The 
muscular part of the flesh is tolerably good eating, but 
the electric organ, which fills more than two-thirds of 
the body, is slimy and disagreeable, and is, accord- 
ingly, carefully separated from the rest. The pre- 
sence of the gymnoti is considered as the principal 



234 



COLOMBIA. 



cause of the want of fish in the ponds and pools of the 
llanos. They kill many more than they devour ; and 
all the inhabitants of the waters, lizards, frogs, and 
tortoises, dread and endeavour to escape from their 
society. The Indians sometimes take young alligators 
and gymnoti in the same net, and the latter are never 
found in that case to display the slightest wound, 
having evidently disabled the alligators before they 
could attack them. It was found necessary to change 
the direction of a road near Uritucu, because these 
electrical eels were so numerous in one river, that 
they killed a great number of mules every year as they 
forded the water. 

Desirous of making some experiments on these 
remarkable fish, the learned Traveller repaired to 
a stream in which they abound, and where the 
Indians offered their services in fishing for them ivith 
horses. Having caught about thirty wild horses and 
mules, they forced them to enter the pool. " The 
extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs, makes 
the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to com- 
bat. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large 
aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water, 
and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. 
A contest between animals of so different an organisa- 
tion, furnishes a very striking spectacle. The In- 
dians, provided with harpoons and long, slender reeds, 
surround the pool closely ; and some climb upon the 
trees, the branches of which extend horizontally over 
the surface of the water. By their wild cries and 
the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses 
from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. 
The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by 
the repeated discharge of their electric batteries. 
During a long time they seem to prove victorious. 



COLOMBIA. 



235 



Several horses sink beneath the violence of the 
invisible strokes which they receive from all sides in 
organs the most essential to life ; and, stunned by the 
force and frequency of the shocks, they disappear under 
the water. Others, panting, with mane erect, and 
haggard eyes, expressing anguish, raise themselves, 
and endeavour to flee from the storm by which they 
are overtaken. They are driven back by the Indians 
into the water: but a small number succeed in 
eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These 
regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and 
stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with 
fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric 
shocks of the gymnoti. 

" In less than five minutes, two horses were 
drowned. The eel, being five feet long, and pressing 
itself against the belly of the horses, makes a dis- 
charge along the whole extent of its electric organ. 
It attacks at once the heart, the intestines, and the 
plexus cceliacus of the abdominal nerves. It is natural, 
that the effect felt by the horses should be more 
powerful than that produced upon man by the touch 
of the same fish at only one of his extremities. The 
horses are probably not killed, but only stunned, 
They are drowned from the impossibility of rising 
amid the prolonged struggle between the other horses 
and the eels. 

w We had little doubt that the fishing would ter- 
minate by killing successively all the animals en- 
gaged ; but, by degrees, the impetuosity of this un- 
equal combat diminished, and the wearied gymnoti 
dispersed. They require a long rest and abundant 
nourishment, to repair what they have lost of galvanic 
force. The mules and horses appear less frightened % 
their manes are no longer bristled, and their eyes 



236 



COLOMBIA. 



express less dread. The gymnoti approach timidly the 
edge of the marsh, where they are taken by means of 
small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the 
cords are very dry, the Indians feel no shock in raising 
the fish into the air. In a few minutes, we had five 
large eels, the greater part of which were but slightly 
wounded. 

" It would be temerity to expose ourselves to the 
first shocks of a very large and strongly irritated gym- 
notus. If by chance you receive a stroke before the 
fish is wounded, or wearied by a long pursuit, the 
pain and numbness are so violent, that it is impossible 
to describe the nature of the feeling they excite. I do 
not remember having ever received from the discharge 
of a large Ley den jar, a more dreadful shock than 
that which I experienced by imprudently placing both 
my feet on a gymnotus just taken out of the water. 
I was affected the rest of the day with a violent pain 
in the knees, and in almost every joint. 

" Gymnoti are neither charged conductors, nor 
batteries, nor electro-motive apparatuses, the shock of 
which is received every time they are touched with 
one hand, or when both hands are applied to form 
a conducting circle between two heterogeneous poles. 
The electric action of the fish depends entirely on its 
will ; whether because it does not keep its electric 
organs always charged, or, by the secretion of some 
fluid, or by any other means alike mysterious to us, it 
is capable of directing the action of its organs to 
an external object. We often tried, both insulated 
and uninsulated, to touch the fish, without feeling the 
least shock. When M. Bonpland held it by the 
head, or by the middle of the body, while I held it by 
the tail, and, standing on the moist ground, did not 
i.ake each other's hand, one of us received shocks 



COLOMBIA. 



237 



which the other did not feel. It depends upon the 
gymnotus to act toward the point where it finds itself 
the most strongly irritated. The discharge is then 
made at one point only, and not at the neighbouring 
points. If two persons touch the belly of the fish 
with their fingers, at an inch distance, and press 
it simultaneously, sometimes one, sometimes the 
other, will receive the shock." 

The torpedo of Cumana and of Europe cannot be 
compared, in its electric powers, with the true gym- 
notus, although it is able to cause very painful sensa- 
tions. They differ also, specifically, in some of their 
characteristics. In both the torpedo and the gym- 
notus, however, the action is a vital action, dependent 
on the will of the animal. It cannot be passively dis- 
charged like a Voltaic pile or a Leyden phial, but 
must be irritated to induce the shock. The Spaniards 
give them in common the name of tembladores, trem- 
blers, i. e. producers of trembling ; and it is remark- 
able, that the electrical fish of the Nile is called rhadd, 
which is said to signify what causes trembling.* 

On the 24th of March, the learned Travellers 
quitted Calabozo, and proceeded southward. The 
ground became more bare and parched, and the palm- 
trees disappeared as they advanced. They forded the 
Uritucu, which abounds with alligators of remarkable 
ferocity, and on the following day, traversed the Mesa 
de Pavones — a level so perfect and so bare of trees, 
that, as far as the eye can reach, not a single object 
fifteen inches high can be discovered. They passed 
the night of the 25th near the small mission of San 
Geronymo del Gnayaval, on the banks of the Guarico, 
which falls into the Apure. On the 27th, passing 



* Humboldt, Pers. Narr. vol. iv. pp. 345— 77- 



238 



COLOMBIA. 



over low grounds often inundated, they reached the 
Villa de San Fernando, the capital of the Capuchin 
missions in this province, where their journey over 
the llanos terminated. The following three months, 
April, May, and June, they passed on the rivers, 

" It will scarcely be believed," remarks the learned 
Writer, u that the Villa de Fernando de Apure, only 
fifty leagues distant in a straight line from that part 
of the coast of Caracas which has been the longest 
inhabited, was founded only in 1789. Its situation, 
on a large navigable river, near the mouth of another 
river that traverses the whole province of Varinas, is 
extremely advantageous for trade. Every production 
of that province, hides, cocoa, cotton, and indigo, 
passes through this town towards the mouths of the 
Orinoco. During the rains, large vessels ascend from 
Angostura as far as San Fernando, and, by the Rio 
San Domingo, as far as Torunos, the port of the town 
of Varinas. At that period, the inundations of the 
rivers, which form a labyrinth of branches between 
the Apure, the Arauca, the Capanaparo, and the 
Sinaruco, cover nearly 400 square leagues. Every 
thing here recalls the inundations of Egypt, and 
of the Lake of Xarayes in Paraguay. The swellings 
of the Apure, the Meta, and the Orinoco, are also 
periodical. In the rainy season, the horses that wan- 
der in the savanna, and have not time to reach the 
rising grounds of the llanos, perish by hundreds. 
The mares are seen, followed by their colts, swimming 
during a part of the day to feed upon the grass, the 
tops of which only wave above the waters. In this 
state, they are pursued by the crocodiles, and it is by 
no means uncommon to find the prints of the teeth of 
these carnivorous reptiles on their thighs. The car- 
casses of horses, mules, and cows attract an innu- 



COLOMBIA. 



239 



merable multitude of vultures. The mmuros are the 
ibises, or, rather, the aquiline vultures of this country. 
They have the mien of PharaoWs chicken, and render 
the same service to the inhabitants of the llanos^ as 
the vultur perenopterus did to the inhabitants of 
Egypt." * 

There is a road, mentioned by Humboldt, from 
Valencia to Varinas, which leads through Guanare 
and Misagual, and appears partly different from the 
itinerary furnished by Col. Hall. The district of 
Misagual is noted for its indigo. Guanare is described 
by Lavaysse as a handsome town, situated in a mag- 
nificent plain on the banks of a river of the same 
name ; ninety-three leagues S.W. of Caracas, and 
fifty-four from Valencia. It was founded as early as 
1593, and contained within its district, in 1807, 
20,000 inhabitants, who derived considerable wealth 
from their tobacco-plantations, till the cultivation was 
made a royal monopoly. Twenty leagues north-west 
of Guanare, on the Valencia road, is the town of 
Araure, situated between two branches of the river 
Acarigua, the right branch of which is navigable. 
This little town also is stated to be well built, and to 
have a handsome church, " the temple of a mira- 
culous Madonna," who, it seems, has, since 1757? 
started into competition with the Virgin of Guanare. 
The priests of Guanare declare, however, that the 
Madonna of Araure is only a Capuchin fraud, and has 
never performed a miracle ! This town and its dis- 
trict had, in 1807, a population of 11,000 persons. It 
is erroneously placed by the Spanish geographers in 
lat. 9° 15', long. 70° 20'. According to Col. Hall's 
map, it stands in lat. 8° 45', long. 69° 10'; and 



* Pers. Narr. vol. iv. pp. 391—4. 



240 



COLOMBIA. 



Guanare, which Lavaysse states, on the authority of 
the Spanish writers, to be in 8° 14' of N. latitude, and 
long. 72° 5', stands in lat. 8°, long. 69° 35' W. of 
Greenwich. From Varinas, two roads lead westward, 
one by the ravine of Callejones, to the paramo de 
Mucuchies and the mountains of Merida ; the other 
to Pedraza, which stands at the foot of the mountains 
which separate the plains of Varinas from the basin of 
the Rio Sulia. 

In the tract of country which forms the entrance to 
the llanos, on the banks of the Uritucu, and, more 
especially, in the districts of San Sebastian de los 
Reyes, and near Guigue, is grown some of the finest 
chocolate in Caracas. The cacao, or chocolate-tree 
(commonly, but incorrectly written, cocoa-tree),* is 
found wild in the forests south of the Orinoco ; but 
there is reason to believe, that no beverage prepared 
from the seeds was in use among the natives prior to 
the arrival of the Spaniards, who first introduced 
cacao-plantations into Caracas. They obtained their 
knowledge of the use and cultivation of this tree from 
the Mexicans, who, in the time of Montezuma, not 
only cultivated it, but had even learned to reduce 
the chocolate to cakes. The savages of the Orinoco, 
on the contrary, only suck the pulp of the pod, and 
throw away the seeds, which are often found in heaps 
where they have passed the night. Down to the six- 
teenth century, travellers differ widely in their opinions 
respecting chocolate. Benzoni, in his History of the 
New World, published in 1572, styles it a drink fitter 

* Theobroma cacao. The Mexicans called it cacahuail. The 
small seed of the species called Tlalcacahuatl, were used as cur- 
rency. Cortes calls them cacap-trees. In Humboldt's Political 
Essay, the tree is also written cacan, or eavava quahvitL (Vol. iii. 
p. 23.) His Translator calls it the cocoa-tree. 



COLOMBIA. 



241 



for hogs than for men ; and the Jesuit Acosta, speak- 
ing of the excessive fondness of the Spanish Ameri- 
cans for chocolate, says, that one must be accustomed 
to that black beverage, not to be sick at the mere sight 
of its froth, which swims on it like yeast on a fer- 
mented liquor. " The cacao," he adds, " is a pre- 
judice {una superstition) of the Mexicans, as the coca 
is of the Peruvians." Cortes praises it as an agreeable 
and nutritious drink. " He who has drunk one cup," 
says the page of the great Conquistador, u can travel a 
whole day without any other food, especially in very 
hot climates, for chocolate is by its nature cold and 
refreshing." The Mexicans, it seems, prepared the 
infusion cold, mixing with it a little maize-flour, some 
vanilla, and a spice called mecaxochitl. The Spaniards 
introduced the custom of preparing it by boiling water 
with the paste ; but they have a strong dislike to the 
mixture of vanilla with the chocolate, deeming it un- 
wholesome. Humboldt bears testimony to the salu- 
tary properties of the beverage. " Alike easy to con- 
vey and to employ as an aliment," he says, " it 
contains a large quantity of nutritive and stimulating 
particles in a small L compass. It has been said with 
truth, that in Africa, rice, gum, and s/^a-butter, assist 
man in crossing the deserts. In the New World, 
chocolate and maize-flour have rendered accessible to 
him the table-land of the Andes and vast unin- 
habitable forests." The cacao harvest is very variable 
and precarious. The plant is extremely delicate, 
liable to be injured by sudden changes in the tempera- 
ture, though only of a few degrees, or by irregular 
showers, and exposed to various animal and insect 
depredators. The new planter may have to wait eight 
or ten years for the fruit of his labours, for the planta- 
tions do not begin to yield till the sixth, seventh, or 

PART II. P 



242 



COLOMBIA. 



eighth year, and they cease to be productive after 
forty years. But, on the other hand, the plantations 
require a much smaller proportion of labour than most 
others. One slave is sufficient for a thousand trees, 
which may yield, on an average, twelve fanegas of 
cacao, worth from twenty-five to forty-five piasters 
the fanega (about a cwt.). The crops are gathered 
twice a year, at the end of June and December. 
They vary much, yet less than the produce of the 
olive and the vine in Europe. The provinces of 
Venezuela are supposed by Humboldt to furnish nearly 
two-thirds of the chocolate that is consumed in the 
western and southern parts of Europe. The annual 
produce, from 1800 to 1806, of the whole captain- 
generalship, is believed to have amounted to very 
nearly 200,000 fanegas, of which 145,000 found their 
way to Europe, while 60,000 were annually exported 
from Guayaquil. The total value of the exports of 
cacao is estimated by Humboldt at nearly 2,000,000 
sterling.* 

Before we take leave of the provinces of Venezuela, 
we must not forget to mention the very remarkable 
vegetable production that is indigenous to the Cor- 
dillera of the coast, particularly from Barbula to 
Maracaybo, called the palo de vaca, or cow-tree, and 
(at Caucagua) the arbol de leche, or milk-tree. It be- 
longs, apparently, to the genus sapota. As all the 
milky juices of plants are acrid, bitter, and more or 
less poisonous, it was not without some incredulity 

* Humboldt, Pers. Narr. vol. iii. p. 192 ; vol. iv. pp. 231 — 42 ; 
Pol. Essay, vol. iii. pp. 23 — 6- The learned Writer gives, as the 
result of a great number of local statements, the computation, that 
Europe at present consumes annually, of chocolate, 23,000,000 of 
pounds weight; of tea, 32,000,000; of coffee, 140,000,000; of 
sugar, 450,000. 



I 



COLOMBIA. 243 

that Humboldt heard of the extraordinary virtues of 
this tree ; but he found that they were not exaggerated. 
" On the barren flank of a rock," he says, " grows a 
tree with dry and leather -like leaves ; its large woody 
roots can scarcely penetrate into the stony soil. For 
several months of the year, not a single shower 
moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and 
dried ; yet, when the trunk is pierced, there flows 
from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at sun- 
rise that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. 
The blacks and the natives are then to be seen hasten- 
ing from all quarters, furnished with large bowls 
to receive the milk, which grows yellow and thickens 
at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the 
tree, while others carry home the juice for their 
children. This fine tree rises like the broad-leaved 
star-apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, tough and 
alternate, are marked by lateral ribs : some of them 
are ten inches long. We did not see the flower. The 
fruit is somewhat fleshy, and contains a nut, some- 
times two. The milk obtained by incisions made in 
the trunk, is glutinous, tolerably thick, free from 
all acrimony, and of an agreeable and balmy smell. 
It was offered to us in the shell of the tutwrno or 
calebash-tree. We drank a considerable quantity of 
it in the evening before we went to bed, and very 
early in the morning, without experiencing the 
slightest injurious effect. The viscosity of this milk 
alone renders it somewhat disagreeable. The negroes 
and free -labourers drink it, dipping into it their maize 
or cassava-bread. The major-domo of the farm (at 
Barbula) told us that the negroes grow perceptibly 
fatter during the season when the palo de vaca 
furnishes the most milk. This juice, exposed to the 
air, presents, on its surface, a membranous and strongly 



244 



COLOMBIA. 



animalised substance, yellowish, stringy, and resem- 
bling cheese, which, when separated from the aqueous 
liquid, is elastic, almost like India rubber, but under- 
goes, after some time, the same phenomena of putre- 
faction as gelatine. The people call the coagulum 
that separates on contact with the air, cheese : this 
coagulum grows sour in five or six days." * The vis- 
cosity observed in the fresh milk is, no doubt, adds 
the learned Writer, occasioned by the caoutchouc, 
which is not yet separated, and which forms one mass 
with the albumen and caseum, as the butter and 
caseum do in animal milk. The caoutchouc, or oily 
part, may therefore be considered as the butter of this 
vegetable milk ; . and in this combination of the albu- 
minous and oily principles, it bears the closest ana- 
logy to the milk of mammiferous animals. The 
butter-tree of Eambarra, mentioned by Mungo Park, 
is suspected to be of the same gtmis as the palo de 
vaca.-\- It remains for future travellers to pursue 
the inquiry respecting the genus and habits of this 
remarkable natural production, and to ascertain how- 
far it will admit of being extended by cultivation. 

We must now for the present part company with 
this indefatigable and truly philosophical Traveller, 
in order to explore the western provinces of Colombia, 
and penetrate the recesses of the Andes. 

FROM VALENCIA TO BOGOTA. 

The anonymous Author of the Letters from Co- 
lombia is the only modern traveller who has made the 
public acquainted with the route from Caracas to 

* Caseum, the basis of cheese, has been recently detected in the 
emulsion of almonds, 
f Humboldt/ Pers. Narr. vol. iv. pp. 212—226. 



COLOMBIA. 



245 



Bogota. This journey, a distance, according to the 
computation of the country, of 1,200 miles, he per- 
formed in two months, without experiencing any 
sensible fatigue or other inconvenience. Disclaiming 
all literary or scientific pretensions, he has given an 
unadorned, but distinct and interesting account of 
his journey. 

He left Caracas on the 22d of February, 1823. On 
the 25th he reached Valencia, distant from Caracas 
thirty leagues and a half. Here he obtained three 
additional saddle-mules, and on the 27th, the party, 
who formed a small cavalcade, set out for the capital. 
An almost suffocating ride of three leagues across a 
savanna, brought them to Tocuyito, a pretty village 
in the midst of haciendas. Along this road, the Spa- 
niards had a little before been pursued with consider- 
able slaughter, after their signal defeat at Carabobo. 
By the road side, and scattered over the plain, were 
still to be seen the remains of the unfortunate Godos 
(Goths, so the Spaniards were called by the Patriots) 
who were killed in the retreat. The road beyond 
Carabobo becomes very precipitous, either winding 
along the side of mountains, or descending into deep 
dells, the beds of mountain rivulets. At six leagues 
from Tocuyito, is a solitary hovel called El Hayo^ 
where the wearied party halted for the night. The 
animals being fastened to a cane fence, the hostess, 
a " half-starved Indian woman," made a fire, and 
prepared the chocolate which the Travellers had 
brought with them, ("a great resource, by the by," 
says the Writer, 66 in this land of bad living,") which 
was served up in calebashes : they then slung their 
hammocks in the small room which served for a 
kitchen, and slept as they could. From this place, 
p 2 



246 



COLOMBIA. 



it is a distance of four leagues, along good roads, to 
Tinaquilla, and six leagues and a half further to 
Tinaeo, another large village, which the Travellers 
reached in the evening. In this day's journey, the 
Writer's admiration was excited by the various and 
beautiful plumage of the birds, " the commonest of 
which would be considered as curiosities in Europe/' 
Parrots and paroquets were seen in large flocks ; also, 
the mocking-bird, the macaw, the scarlet cardinal, 
the guacharaca (a species of pheasant), and a small 
dove extremely tame. In every place, the population 
appeared to be decreased by the war, to the lowest 
ebb. 

The third day, they only proceeded to San Carlos, 
a distance of four leagues and a half. The approach 
is very picturesque. Several white steeples and the 
remains of large edifices are seen rising above the 
rich foliage ; in the immediate vicinity is a good deal 
of cultivation, chiefly indigo-plantations ; and on the 
right, the lofty cordillera of the coast is seen stretching 
along to the north-east. "We were quartered," says 
our Traveller, " in one of the best houses in the 
town, exhibiting, in its gilded mouldings, the remains 
of former riches. Its principal inhabitants are now 
bats and spiders. The owner, Don Andres Herrera, 
a name distinguished among the conquerors of the 
New World, was one of the richest men of the place, 
but is now reduced to comparative poverty, from the 
depredations of one party, and the necessary exactions 
of the other for the support of their cause. The re- 
sources of this town were formerly immense ; indeed, 
I am told, almost incredible, as there were individuals 
possessing wealth beyond their power of computation, 
from the amazing and incalculable increase in cattle. 



COLOMBIA. 



24? 



the principal source of their prosperity ; hut a most 
destructive warfare has proved that the spring was not 
inexhaustible. There now barely remains a sufficiency 
for the common purposes of freight and conveyance ; 
and unless timely measures be adopted to replenish 
the breeding stock, the country will sustain a most 
serious loss in the extinction of this branch of traffic. 
There are several churches in San Carlos, of neat and 
rather elegant exterior, one of which was built at the 
sole expense of an individual of the town. Some 
large houses have withstood the earthquake ; more 
are in ruins, as well as the greater part of the town ; 
but should the time arrive when the government or 
individuals may be enabled to rebuild or renovate 
this place, it may be made one of the prettiest towns 
in the province. The principal objection to it as a 
residence, is the excessive heat which prevails. During 
our stay, the glass was at 96°, a heat beyond any we 
have yet experienced. At times, I understand, it is 
much higher. The oranges grown here are considered 
by the natives as the best in the world ; they are ex- 
cellent, but not, in my opinion, equal to European 
fruit. The population is computed at 5 or 6,000, in- 
cluding, probably, the adjacent villages." * 

At less than a league's distance from this town, is 
the village of San Jose, and four or five leagues fur- 
ther is another small hamlet, called La Ceyba. The 
road passes for the most part over rich savannas, in- 
tersected by numerous rivulets, bounded by a range 

* According to Lavaysse, San Carlos contained, in 1807, more 
than 15,000 inhabitants, consisting chiefly of settlers from the 
Canary Islands. The town is situated, he says, on the small river 
Aguare, which falls into a branch of the Apure. It was founded 
by the missionaries. 



248 



COLOMBIA. 



of low but picturesque hills. It then enters on a 
finely undulating country, which presented a " park- 
like scenery, enlivened by numerous birds of the most 
brilliant plumage, with wild deer browsing at a dis- 
tance on the verdant hillocks." At the Quehrada 
(ravine) de C amour aka, five leagues from San Carlos, 
the road to Merida turns off to the westward from 
the great road to Varinas. At nine leagues from San 
Carlos is the straggling Indian village of Camaroucama. 
Here, the road enters a thick forest, and in about a 
league, crosses the Rio Claro, or Cojedes, at a ferry. 
Soon after, begins the ascent of the very difficult and 
precipitous pass over the Altar mountain. The party 
passed the night at a miserable pulperia, twelve 
leagues from San Carlos, where the only refreshment 
they could obtain, was cassava-bread and guarapo, 
and the animals were reduced to feed on the thatch 
of the hovel. This mountain is covered with a thick 
forest of palms and other trees, whose interlaced 
branches the sun, in some places, cannot penetrate : 
hence, marshy spots occur, which, in the rainy season, 
are frequently impassable. 

Another fatiguing day's journey of twelve leagues 
brought the Travellers to Barquesimeto. After 
emerging from the gloomy forests of LI Altar, an 
undulating country, partially cultivated, extends to 
La Morita, a distance of four leagues. On the left, a 
range of mountains, the lower ridge of the cordillera, 
extends north and south. Beyond La Morita, the road 
enters on the rich valley of the Rio Claro, crossing 
the river five or six times, before it begins to ascend 
the hills. Extensive plantations of indigo, cocoa, and 
sugar-cane, give a flourishing aspect to the vale ; and 
the large and neat village of Augare (qu. Caudares ?) 



COLOMBIA. 



249 



presented the very uncommon appearance of a re- 
dundant population.* 

In no part of Venezuela did the disastrous earth- 
quake of 1812 occasion such appalling ravages as at 
Barquesimeto, — not even in Caracas. Scarcely a 
house remained entire ; and of its comparatively 
small population, the Writer was informed that 1,500 
persons were buried in the ruins. 64 The inhabited 
part is now comparatively small, having been built 
since the awful visitation, from the materials that 
abound in every direction ; and still, its fallen edi- 
fices present a mournful picture of desolation. The 
town is situated at the extremity of an extensive table 
mountain, which is again enclosed by still higher 
eminences, the fertile valleys intervening : hence, 
perhaps, the cause of the severity of the shock. Situ- 
ated on this plateau, it has the benefit of constant 
breezes, which cool in some degree its excessively 
hot climate." The population of Barquesimeto and 
its environs, is now supposed to be between 8 and 
10,000 persons, of whom by far the larger portion 
inhabit the adjacent villages. •)• The remnants of the 
town were at this time filled with refugees from Coro 

* Col. Hall gives the following itinerary of the road from San 
Carlos to Barquesimeto : 

Leagues. Leagues. 



From San Carlos - 
To the Quebrada de Ca- 

mouraka 5 

— Camouracama 4 

— El Altar 2 

— Garnalotal 4 

— La Morita 4 

— Rastrajos 2 



Brought forward 21 

To Caudares 1 

— Barquesimeto 1 

23 

Add the distance from Va- 
lencia to San Carlos, as 
given at page 222 23^ 

464 



21 

f Lavaysse estimates the population of the town, in 1807, at 
15,000 persons. 



250 



COLOMBIA. 



and the borders of Lake Maracaybo, who had fled 
before the marauding bands of Morales. 

At the miserable place called Seritos Blancos, the 
road again descends. From Los Horcones, three 
leagues from Barquesimeto, an arid tract stretches to 
the village of Chibor, the prickly pear, the aloe, and 
the dwarf-cedar, being the only vegetation. Here our 
Traveller found a great many more emigrants from 
Coro and other towns on the coast. The village itself 
presented symptoms of improvement : a neat church 
had been recently erected, and houses were under- 
going repair, or rising from their ruins. The same 
uninteresting country extends beyond Chibor, till the 
road descends by a winding ravine to the bed of the 
Tocuyo, where the traveller finds himself enclosed 
on all sides by mountains, and the heat becomes ex- 
cessive. 

The "Writer was detained at Tocuyo from the 5th 
to the 11th of March, in consequence of his luggage 
not having arrived from Caracas. He describes the 
site of the town as, next to Caracas, the best chosen of 
any he had seen ; but the climate, he says, is at least 
ten degrees hotter, as there is seldom much air stirring. 
The mean heat during his stay, was 86° Fahr.* Yet, 
excellent wheat is grown in the district, together with 
the sugar-cane, maize, and plantains. The plain is 
about three leagues long by one in breadth. The 
river Tocuyo winds through it at the back of the 
town, between which and a chain of high calcareous 
mountains running N.E. and S.W., there is a con- 
siderable tract of fertile land. The town is regularly 

* Lavaysse states, that the climate of Tocuyo " is cool, even 
cold, from November to April, while the wind blows from the 
north." 



COLOMBIA, 



251 



built, but contains few good houses. It formerly con- 
tained three churches and two convents, Franciscan 
and Dominican. Since the suppression of the monas- 
teries, the Franciscan convent, which is described as 
the finest religious edifice which the Writer had seen 
in the country, with the exception of the cathedral 
at Caracas, has been converted into the parroquia^ 
the churches having suffered from the earthquake. 
The population at present does not exceed from 3 to 
4,000 persons.* In the evenings, there was a sort of 
rendezvous at the river, where the females make no 
scruple of bathing at the same time and place as the 
men. Tocuyo was formerly noted for the superior 
wool of its sheep, and for its tanneries, which formed 
a considerable branch of its trade. 

Beyond Tocuyo, the most difficult passes commence. 
The road is level and good for the first four leagues, 
winding through a defile of rich, varied, and cultivated 
land, abundantly watered. The sugar-cane, maize, 
and plantains are the chief productions, but there are 
a few cocoa-plantations. A range of sterile moun- 
tains on either side of the rocky bed of the river, rise 
gradually in height as the traveller approaches Olmu- 
caro Abaxo, a small Indian village of about forty 
detached huts. On these mountains is found " a 
species of wild lilac, of a fixed and much brighter 
colour than the European." Olmucaro is situated at 
the extremity of the plains, shut in on all sides by 
mountains, and immediately at the foot of one of 
immense perpendicular height, but at a considerable 
elevation above the bed of the river from which the 
ascent begins : the temperature was found to be 

* Depons states the population at 10,200. He represents the 
inhabitants as singularly prone to suicide, 



252 



COLOMBIA. 



8° cooler than at Tocuyo. The next day's journey, 
from Olmucaro to Agua de Obispos (bishop's water), 
is a difficult and fatiguing one. The road descends 
by a steep and craggy path, till it again meets the 
river Tocuyo at the bottom of a deep ravine. A rude 
bridge, formed by the trunk? of trees lashed together, 
has been raised on stone buttresses at a considerable 
height above the stream, which, issuing from fissures 
in the mountains, foams down a rocky bed. It takes 
its rise a little above, receiving several tributary tor- 
rents which likewise issue from the mountains. The 
road now ascends a narrow defile, " threatened by 
overhanging rocks and cloud-capped mountains." The 
Writer had visited Wales the preceding year, and 
had seen gome magnificent passes, with a greater body 
of water foaming down the rocky precipices ; but, com- 
pared with this scene, he says, they dwindled into 
insignificance. The further he advanced, the greater 
was the admiration excited, as he wound " along 
avenues of luxuriant foliage of the most varied de- 
scription, among which, overhanging the stream, 
were trees of gigantic size, — some loaded with a white 
kind of moss dropping from the branches, like pendent 
icicles, others covered with ivy, or festooned with 
arches of bignonia, stretching from tree to tree in ver- 
dant arcades, and forming rich contrasts with those 
bearing orange-coloured and deep -blue flowers ; while 
flocks of paroquets, doves, tropiales, &c. added to the 
novelty and interest of the scene. We had now begun 
the ascent of one of the highest and most difficult 
passes in the route. The more ground we gained, 
the more distant appeared the summit we had yet to 
climb ; but the sublimity of this mountain scenery 
would have repaid any fatigue. After four hours of 
continual ascent, we reached some sheds about the 



COLOMBIA. 



253 



middle of the mountain, which had been erected by 
JVIorillo as a covering for the troops who secured the 
pass. Here we made a halt, and had recourse to our 
canteens. The temperature was cool and agreeable, 
and we found a spring of delicious water close at 
hand." In three hours and a half more, they reached 
the summit, which afforded a stupendous prospect : 
mountain below mountain extended in lessening 
gradations beneath them, while clouds rolled on the 
lower eminences. After descending for an hour and 
a half, they reached the few detached huts called 
Agua de Obispos, near which are some patches of cul- 
tivation. The thermometer here fell, in the night, 
to 60°, — a difference of 36° between this place and 
San Carlos. 

The next day's stage is to Carache. For an hour, 
the road is a steep ascent : it then lies along a ridge 
of high mountains, gradually descending for three 
hours by an even but narrow road, through scenery 
of the grandest description. At times, the pathway is 
so narrow, that a false step would precipitate the 
traveller down an almost perpendicular steep of in- 
calculable depth. About mid-way, the narrow vale 
of Carache opens on the view, picturesquely em- 
bosomed in mountains, and reminding our Traveller 
of the valley of Chamouny. The descent to the town 
occupied three hours. No place through which the 
Writer had hitherto passed, presented so striking an 
appearance of desolation as this little village, which, 
having been occupied at different times by both of 
the contending armies, had been reduced to the low- 
est misery. Many of the houses were deserted, the 
inhabitants having sought shelter in the woods ; and 
in the huts which were still occupied, there was 
scarcely an article of furniture, — in some not even a 
PAttT it. d 



254 



COLOMBIA. 



door. With difficulty the Travellers obtained provi- 
sions of any kind, and they were informed, that 
" there was not in the town wine enough for the 
communion service." 

The vale of Carache, which may be about three 
leagues in extent, terminates at a high mountain, 
over which the road passes, and then descends into 
another valley lying nearly parallel, about four leagues 
in extent by one in breadth, watered by a small river, 
but apparently of much richer soil. At its further 
extremity is the Indian village of Santa Ana, contain- 
ing at this time not more than fifteen or twenty fami- 
lies. \Theat, maize, potatoes, and plantains thrive 
under the mild temperature. Another summit, en- 
veloped in clouds, had to be surmounted, to complete 
a hard day's journey of ten leagues to the miserable 
village of Mocoy, which lies at the foot of the moun- 
tain, and is reached by a most fatiguing descent of 
two hours. The road from this place lies southward 
along a rich valley, which opens as the traveller ap- 
proaches Panpanito, a distance of two leagues and a 
half. This is the point of the road nearest to Trux- 
illo, which lies a couple of leagues out of the route to 
Merida. An advanced guard from that city, consist- 
ing of a troop of cavalry, were stationed here. Their 
fine, athletic appearance ill agreed with their wretched 
accoutrements. Most of them were half -naked ; none 
had either stockings or boots ; and the principal badge 
of their profession was a kind of helmet made of 
bullock's hide, with a strip of blacked sheep-skin for 
a cockade. The Travellers now found the heat again 
oppressive, — the thermometer at 84°. The valley 
continues to expand, and exhibits signs of tolerable 
cultivation and the highest fertility. " The coup- 
cV&U of its full basin, from a wooded eminence at the 



COLOMBIA. 



255 



further extremity, heightened by the warm tints of 
the evening sun, was rich almost beyond precedent. 
In fact, this fine valley," says the Writer, " is hardly 
surpassed in beauty by those of Aragua." A pulperia, 
situated on an elevated plateau of considerable extent, 
called Savanna Larga, afforded lodging for the night. 
From this mountain plain, a winding road leads down 
to the bed of the river Motatan, flowing to the Lake 
of Maracaybo. The village of Valera, through which 
the road passes, is not more than ten leagues distant 
from the lake. Near that village, is an extensive 
cocoa-hacienda , and the whole tract is interspersed 
with fine estates, and others that have been suffered 
to go to decay, but which attest the richness of the 
soil. This day's stage terminated at the poor Indian 
village of Mendoza. Two leagues further, the road 
again enters the mountains. The first summit is of 
moderate elevation ; and the road being tolerably 
good, the ascent occupied only two hours. The mag- 
nificence of the scene which presented itself when 
they had gained the highest point, the Writer says, 
is almost unequalled. " Beneath us, at an immense 
depth, lay the verdant vale of Timotes, through which 
we could trace for leagues a serpentine river. Rising 
above this is a range of hills of moderate dimensions, 
but almost perpendicular acclivity, — the summits, 
which are extensive table-lands, cultivated in parts, 
with the village of La Mesa at the eastern extremity. 
A second chain of immense height rises abruptly from 
the Mesa (the eminence so called), covered mostly 
with forest, but terminating above the clouds, which 
appeared to rest mid-way, in rocky and craggy sum- 
mits of various forms." It occupied nearly four hours 
to descend into the vale. The mountain which they 
had for the next day's journey to cross, rises to the 



256 



COLOMBIA. 



height of a paramo. The ascent, though by a good 
road, occupied nearly four hours ; and at the summit, 
the thermometer fell to 42° 30'. Beyond the strag- 
gling village of Chachopo, all useful vegetation ceases, 
" the only covering to the stony mountains being a 
kind of moss, and a plant somewhat resembling the 
aloe, but of a more woolly appearance. The morning," 
our Traveller adds, " was extremely favourable for 
crossing, being perfectly clear : at other times, the pas- 
sage is often dangerous, and in stormy weather imprac- 
ticable. The view from the height comprised a mass 
of barren and rugged mountains, more wild than in- 
teresting. Hence we descended by a gradual slope, 
and a tolerably good road, for four hours. The scenery 
possesses no novelty, except, indeed, the abundant 
sources of various rivers which take their rise in 
these mountains ; and it is interesting to watch the 
increasing velocity of the currents as they proceed, 
receiving reinforcements from every ravine." At 
the end of eight hours, they reached Mucuchies, si- 
tuated in the midst of a bare, uninteresting tract : not 
a tree is to be seen, but a considerable quantity of corn 
is grown here. The town has a neat church, and 
formerly contained 3,000 inhabitants ; but the war, 
emigration, and the small-pox had lamentably dimi- 
nished their numbers. The thermometer, which 
stood at 66° here in the day, fell at night to 46°, — a 
change of twenty degrees in a few hours ; and the 
cold was very sharp. The descent from this town, 
which follows the channel of the River Chama from 
its source, rolling over its rocky bed with great 
velocity as it approaches the small village of Muctt- 
cubar, — soon placed the Travellers again in the tem- 
perature of summer heat. The country had gradually 
become more fertile, and the scenery increases amaz- 



COLOMBIA, 



1257 



ingly in richness and grandeur as the traveller draws 
near " the delightful city" of 

MERIDA. 

This city, of which we have already given a brief 
description, is commonly considered as about half-way 
between Caracas and Bogota ; but the Traveller whom 
we are following, states, that there is, he believes, no 
accurate computation of the distance.* Next to Ca- 
racas, this was by far the largest city in Venezuela. 
At least two-thirds of it are now in ruins, the effect 
of the same awful convulsion of nature that desolated 
the capital. From 12,000 persons, the number of in- 
habitants in 1804, the Writer supposes that the popu- 
lation is now reduced to probably not more than a 
fourth of that number. " The distance is nearly 500 
miles, and yet, the convulsion was simultaneous. 
Merida, in proportion to its size, has suffered more 
than Caracas : with the exception of two streets, at 
least a mile in length, it presents an unvaried picture 
of ruin and desolation.-)- Before the calamity of 1812, 
it possessed five convents and three parish churches : 
at present, one only of the former remains, the Do- 
minican, which, since the abolition of religious orders 
by the decree of Congress, has been converted into 
the cathedral. A convent of nuns, of the order of St. 
Clara, still, however, exists ; there is also a hospital 
and a public college, in which sixty students are in- 
structed in Spanish, Latin, Natural Philosophy, and 
Theology." The site of this city, the Writer repre- 
sents as the most delightful spot the imagination can 

* As far as we can gather from the Writer's own computation 
by time, Merida must be about 83 leagues W. of Barquesimeto, 
which would make its distance from Caracas 160 leagues, and it is 
about 150 from Bogota. 

t A similar catastrophe reduced the city almost to ruins in 1644, 



258 



COLOMBIA. 



paint. " What might not be made of it," he says, 
" if peopled by European families of enlightened ideas, 
and with sufficient capital to rebuild and beautify the 
city as its situation deserves !" Seated on an ele- 
vated table-land, three leagues in length and one in 
breadth, surrounded by three rivers, it unites with 
extraordinary felicity the three choicest gifts of na- 
ture, — a fertile soil, a temperate climate, and beauty 
of situation. Within view of the city, the land 
yields cocoa, coffee, and cotton, maize, plantains, and 
the tropical fruits, wheat, barley, and potatoes. In 
the vale of the Chama, at the foot of the mountains, 
the temperature is between 89° and 90° Fahr., while, 
immediately fronting the town, the summits of the 
mountains rise into the region of perpetual snow. 
The ascent to the city from the valley, is by a very steep, 
abrupt, and narrow pass. Having gained the summit, 
you are almost immediately in the city, which com- 
mences at the eastern extremity of the plateau, cover- 
ing at least half a square league. On the north, south, 
and east, the sides of the mountain are perpendicular, 
having at their base the Rivers Macujun, Albarregas, 
and Chama. To the west, the table-land tends slightly 
to an inclined plane. On every side tower chains of 
lofty mountains : those to the south are the highest, 
and their snowy summits are seen rising out of a zone of 
dark green forests. In the immediate vicinity of the 
city, there is a great deal of land on the Mesa, which 
might be converted into beautiful gardens and plea- 
sure grounds. The mean temperature here is from 
67° to 70°.* The city is regularly laid out, like all 

* According to Alcedo, the city enjoys, every twenty-four hours , 
the four seasons ; viz. twelve hours of cold, from six in the evening 
till six in the morning ; four hours of vernal warmth, from six to 
ten, A.M. ; and eight of summer heat from ten, A.M. to six, P.M. 



COLOMBIA. 



259 



the Spanish towns, the streets intersecting each other 
at right angles, each having in the centre a clear 
stream of running water. The abundance of moun- 
tain rivulets presents every facility for mills and 
other species of machinery; and should it be found 
practicable to render the Chama navigable, the city 
would enjoy, from its proximity to Lake Maracaybo, 
almost the advantages of a maritime situation. The 
excessive insalubrity of that part of the lake where 
the Chama falls into it, is assigned, however, in 
Alcedo's Dictionary, as the reason why the difficulties 
of the river navigation have not been overcome. " It 
is indeed impossible," we are told, " to pass two hours 
at that place without catching a fever, the malignity 
of which generally proves fatal." Yet, how unhealthy 
soever the shores, the influence of the malaria could 
hardly extend to the craft on the waters. It remains, 
too, to be ascertained, whether this is uniformly the case,, 
or only during the hottest season, or possibly, when, in 
the season of drought, the waters of the lake may retire, 
and leave a marshy tract uncovered. Butcher's meat 
is good and cheap at Merida, being supplied from 
Varinas and Pedraza. In the vicinity, according to 
Alcedo, there are gold mines, but they are not 
worked. The greatest drawback on the natural ad- 
vantages of the situation, is its liability to earth- 
quakes, from which it has repeatedly suffered ; but 
this fearful condition of prosperity attaches to it only 
in common with Caracas, Valencia, and Bogota, with 
Ouatimala and Lima, with Smyrna and Aleppo. 

On the 23d of March, the Writer again set out, 
commencing what he terms the third division of his 

These transitions are sometimes, however, rapid and severe, and 
occasion disorders. The west wind is especially dreaded. The 
rains fall at all seasons, and are very heavy. 



260 



COLOMBIA. 



long journey. The road proceeds westward along 
the plateau, till, at the end of about two leagues, it 
leads, by a short but steep and stony descent, to the 
vale of Exjido, crossing the Albarregas and the Mont- 
auban. This rich valley, about a league in extent, is 
in a state of pretty uniform cultivation. At the end 
of it, mountainous passes succeed; and a fatiguing 
ascent up a very rugged road, traversed by two or 
three rapid torrents, conducted the Travellers to the 
village of San Juan. Here there was formerly a con- 
vent of nuns, but the sisterhood have been dispersed 
in consequence of the party feelings introduced by the 
Revolution, and the building is in ruins. The Godas 
retired to Maracaybo ; the patriotic sisters have found 
an asylum at Merida. In this neighbourhood, we 
are told, is a small lake, from four to five fathoms in 
depth, in the bed of which is found " a kind of salt of 
a rocky consistency, called urado, which, when mixed 
with chimon, an extract from tobacco, possesses very 
valuable properties, and is much used by the natives 
in fattening cattle, and for a variety of other purposes. 
The Indians obtain it in small portions by diving to 
the bottom of the lake, and detaching it from the bed. 
In this dangerous service many have perished, and it 
is only surprising that, for a few reals a day, they 
subject themselves to the risk. The urado is not 
known to exist in any other part of the Republic." 
What sort of salt it really is, it is impossible to gather 
from this vague account, evidently derived from hear- 
say information. Alcedo does not mention this re- 
markable production, though he refers apparently to 
this lake. " In the vicinity of Merida," he says, 
46 is a mountain in which is a lake, and which is called 
the Cerro de las Flores (the mountain of flowers), 
from the variety which it produces, together with 



COLOMBIA, 



261 



laurels and other trees and plants, which cover 
it, and render it pleasing to behold, its charms being 
heightened by a great variety of birds." Our Tra- 
veller, describing the mountain -road to San Juan, 
says : " The acacia is in great abundance, together 
with wild jasmine and other beautiful mountain 
flowers, spreading a delicious fragrance." 

The next five leagues, from San Juan to the 
hacienda of Estanques, comprise one of the most dim- 
cult and dangerous passes in this part of the country, 
over a double chain of mountains, between which, at a 
considerable depth, the Chama rushes along a rocky 
bed. The road, which runs from N. to S., alternately 
ascending and descending, consists of a narrow path- 
way cut in the almost perpendicular sides of the 
mountains, barely wide enough for the passage of the 
animals. The rocky summits on either side increase 
in height and wildness of aspect as the traveller ad- 
vances. In one part, the defile is so narrow, that the 
slightest false step would precipitate the mule and the 
rider down a precipice of many hundred feet into the 
Chama, which flows at the bottom. The rirer is 
crossed by two curious bridges, consisting simply of 
long strips of hide, fastened on either side to poles 
fixed in the earth. u On the surface of these is placed 
a square piece of hide, on which the traveller seats 
himself, and, with the assistance of a cord to which it 
is fastened, pulls himself across." The river, though 
not deep, runs with such violence, that it would be im- 
possible to ford it. 

The hacienda of Estanques is a cocoa and coffee- 
plantation of considerable extent. " The agricul- 
turalist in this country," remarks the Writer, " has 
an excellent method of availing himself of the services 
of his slaves, almost free of any expense. Each man, 
a 2 



262 



COLOMBIA. 



or family, receives a certain portion of land, called 
a conuco, which he cultivates for his own support ; 
for this purpose he is left at liberty a day in each 
week. A taste for husbandry is hereby acquired, 
which in the end is beneficial to the estate. Five days 
are devoted to the hacienda, and on Sunday they are 
again free. After hearing mass, in which they are 
very punctilious, the rest of the day is devoted to 
dancing, a recreation which the blacks are passion- 
ately fond of. 

64 Amongst the most liberal laws adopted by the 
first national congress, is that of abolishing slavery 
after the present generation. A fund is also esta- 
blished for the purpose of annually redeeming a certain 
number from bondage, so that in a few years the 
unnatural distinction will no longer exist. From the 
period of passing the decree, the children of slaves are 
declared free, but bound to indemnify the master, 
who has been at the expense of clothing and feeding 
them, either by a certain number of years of per- 
sonal servitude, or an equivalent to the expense 
incurred. 

" We were seated at dinner on the balcony which 
surrounds the house, when all the children belonging 
to the estate, to the number of about sixty — the boys 
in one line, the girls in another — descending by a 
winding path from the village, approached the church, 
singing in very good time a hymn or evening- 
prayer : when in front of the house, they all knelt 
down in the same order, and, lifting up their hands, 
prayed aloud. All religious ceremonies are im- 
pressive ; and in the present instance, that feeling was 
greatly enhanced by the situation — as it were, in the 
midst of the wilderness. Taken by surprise, the effect 
of so many young creatures addressing their Creator 



COLOMBIA. 



263 



in the same words and tone, joined with the con- 
sideration, how inestimable a blessing the introduc- 
tion of Christianity, although so disfigured, is 
amongst a race of beings but lately barbarians, made 
it the most impressive sight I recollect to have wit- 
nessed." 

The Writer does not mention the temperature of 
the valley, but, if it were not sufficiently indicated by 
the nature of the produce, the circumstance of our 
Traveller's being kept awake by " myriads of mos- 
quitoes," in alliance with a small fly called ejen, more 
diminutive, but not less persecuting, than a flea, pre- 
cludes the necessity of reference to the barometer. 
Heavy rains detained the party here next clay till 
about noon. They then commenced their route bv 
entering a forest, and fording a small river, which 
intersects the road by its windings at least a dozen 
times. But torrents of rain soon overtook them, and 
compelled them to halt for the night, at the end of two 
leagues, at Vijagual. — an " Indian cottage," in the 
most romantic spot imaginable. " Situated on a 
gentle rise, it commands a view of the mountainous 
forest that encompasses it on all sides, for the most 
part impervious to man, and the residence of animals 
hostile to his nature. The gloomy silence is here 
broken by the impetuous course of the River Macuti, 
now much swollen by the rains." In this cottage in 
the wilderness, the Travellers met with the most hos- 
pitable treatment on the part of the inmates. A tole- 
rably level and good road, following the course of the 
river, through the same magnificent forest scenery, 
conducts to the parroquia of Bayladores, a distance of 
six leagues. Here, for the first time, the Writer saw 
the tobacco-plant in cultivation, which is still a 
government monopoly; but the restrictions are to be 



254 



COLOMBIA. 



repealed as soon as the financial exigencies of the 
state will admit of it. A considerable quantity is 
grown in this neighbourhood, and there is a govern- 
ment establishment in the town for the manufacture 
of segars and snuff. This circumstance may possibly 
account for the reputed attachment of the inhabitants 
to the Spanish interest. A division of Spanish troops, 
under La Torre, was quartered here for eleven 
months. Another league brought the Travellers to 
La Cebada, so called from the quantity of barley 
grown there. Two ridges of wooded mountains en- 
close an extensive vale running E. and W., the 
greater part of which is sown with grain, leaving 
patches of rich pasturage. Several detached farm- 
houses, of neat appearance, add to the picturesque 
effect of the scenery. But in none of these could be 
found an inhabitant, and the Travellers were obliged 
to proceed to the extremity of the vale, called La 
Pleyta, where they were more fortunate. The owner 
of a solitary farm-house in this retired spot, proved to 
be the individual to whom they were furnished with 
recommendations from the family at Vijagual. Here, 
towards evening, they found it very cold ; the ther- 
mometer was, at one time, as low as 55°. The next 
day's journey lay over the small paramo of Porta- 
chuelo to La Grit a, — a distance of only five leagues, 
but the descent through the forest which clothes the 
declivity, is extremely tedious and fatiguing. La 
Grita, at one time the head town of the province of 
Maracaybo, was founded in 1576, with the dedicatory 
title of Espiritu Santo superadded to the name given 
to it by the natives in their battles. It is rather 
prettily situated on an eminence commanding the view 
of a large and cultivated valley, hemmed in by moun- 
tains. The district used to yield abundance of cocoa 



COLOMBIA. 



265 



and sugar, and large herds of cattle are bred in the 
pastures. The town is now too large for the popula- 
tion : many of the houses were found deserted. The 
women are for the most part tall, very plain, and 
much disfigured by goitres ; a disease very prevalent 
throughout this line of mountainous country. The 
river which rises opposite the city (for it bears this 
title), runs N.W., and falls into the Sulia.® A good 
and level road along the valley for five leagues, leads to 
El Cobre^ so called from the copper mine in its neigh- 
bourhood.-!- The road then passes over the paramo 
called El Zumbador (the hummer), from the inces- 
sant violence of the wind on the summit, which often 
renders the passage extremely dangerous, driving the 
mules sideways, and frequently threatening to hurl 
both mule and rider into the abyss below. Our 
Traveller was, however, disappointed at being balked 
of the anticipated difficulties of the passage : the wind 
was calm, the temperature as high as 60°. The view 
from the summit is very grand, comprehending an 
immense tract of country, terminating in a high chain 
of mountains running S. W. and N.E., and apparently 
the highest from the level of the plain of any that the 
Writer had seen, not excepting, he says, the Silla of 
Caracas. At the foot of the mountain, on the other 
side, is a solitary house called Los Caneis ; but, this 
being occupied, the Travellers pushed on to Savanna 
Larga, distant ten leagues from La Grita. 

The rich and picturesque valley on which the Tra- 

* In Alcedo's Dictionary, La Grita is stated to be forty-six miles 
from Merida, and sixty-seven from Pamplona. It must be at least 
eighty miles from the former, and 100 from the latter. 

t Akedo mentions mines of copper in the district of La Grita, 
which, he says, are not worked ; also, quarries of fs a blue stone in 
high request among the painters." 



266 



COLOMBIA. 



vellers had now entered, is watered by the River 
Tormes. They halted at the village of Tariva, and in 
the evening proceeded three leagues further, to the 
village of Capachio, seated on an eminence command- 
ing the whole vale. The next day, they passed the 
village of San Antonio de Cucuta,* and, a little be- 
yond, crossed the Tachira, — a river that formerly 
divided Venezuela from New Granada. At the end 
of twelve leagues from Savanna Larga, they had the 
satisfaction of finding themselves at 

CUCUTA. 

44 Rosario de Cucuta will ever be famed in the 
annals of Colombia, as the town in which the first 
general congress was held, and where the constitution 
was formed. In 1820, the deputies of Venezuela and 
New Granada assembled here : their session, which 
lasted three months, was held in the sacristy of the 
parish church. At present," adds the Writer, 44 there 
is nothing to commemorate this important event ; but 
the church in which it took place, is by far the 
neatest and in the best preservation of any we have 
hitherto seen : the architecture is somewhat in the 
Moorish style, and would do honour to a country 
more advanced in the arts. It is kept in the nicest 
order, — the least respect that can be paid to its im- 
portant history. Amidst a quantity of trash, it con- 
tains a Madonna and child, painted by a Mexican 
artist of the name of Paez, and evidently copied from 
Raphael's Madonna del Pesce, which surpasses what 
one might expect from a South American artist. It is 

* This is apparently an error for Scoi Antonio de Tacki/a. the 
name given it by Alcedo. 



COLOMBIA. 267 

the offering of a late archbishop of Caracas, and was 
painted in 1774. The appearance of the town is ex- 
tremely pleasing. Surrounded by rich haciendas in 
excellent cultivation, is stands, as it were, in the 
midst of a delightful garden. The perspective at the 
extremity of each street, terminates in a beautiful 
vista, with high mountains in the back ground. The 
town, which is not large, is neat and well built. It 
has not suffered from the earthquake. The houses, 
though not large, have a clean appearance. The 
streets are paved, and have a current of water running 
through the middle. The inhabitants appear to be 
very fond of dancing. Every evening, they assemble 
in the square to the number of fifty or sixty, and 
figure away with great animation to the most deafen- 
ing music, by the light of paper lanterns, and the glare 
of innumerable segars. The chief instruments are 
calabashes filled with Indian corn, which are rattled 
to the thrumming of guitars." 

This scanty information is all that we are able 
to furnish respecting this interesting spot, the Wash- 
ington of the Colombian Republic; for this little 
town, the very name of which does not occur in 
Alcedo's Dictionary,* is understood to have been fixed 
on as the future capital of Colombia, under the name 
of the city or Bolivar. The department itself 
to which it belongs, (it is in the province of Pam- 

* This town, however, is apparently referred to under the desig- 
nation of Son Josef de Cucuta, " a settlement within the jurisdic- 
tion of Pamplona ; of a hot temperature, but healthy, and of great 
commerce, owing to the cacao with which it abounds. It con- 
tains," (it is added,) " more than 100 rich Indians, but is infested 
with snakes, lice, and other noxious insects and reptiles." In 
a description of the province of Pamplona by a native writer, 
given in the Appendix to Mollien's Travels, San Josef and Rosario 
de Cucuta are, however, mentioned as two different towns. 



268 



COLOMBIA. 



plona,) has received the appellation of Boyaca, in com- 
memoration of the memorable victory gained on the 
field of Boyaca, in the province of Tunja, where 
the Spanish cause in New Granada received its death- 
blow from the hands of the Liberator, u aided by his 
brave British auxiliaries." Its central situation and, 
perhaps, its very inaccessibility, appear to have recom- 
mended it, in the first instance, as the Congress city. 
The idea of founding a capital as a monument of the 
National Independence, is a magnificent one. By a 
decree, however, dated the 8th of October, 1821, the 
Congress of Cucuta directed its sittings to be trans- 
ferred to Bogota, reserving " for happier days to raise 
the city of Bolivar."* 

At the distance of about a league to the N.W. of 
the town, a hot spring bubbles up the midst of a 
swamp. u The surplus water finds a drain under 
ground, and re-appears at twenty yards distance, of 
course cooled in its passage ; but even here, the heat 
is so great, that you cannot bear your hand in it many 
seconds. The spirits of wine thermometer only indi- 
cated heat as high as 120°, to which it immediately 
rose on being immersed. I have no doubt," adds the 
Writer, " that, in the middle, an egg might be boiled. 
It evidently partakes of mineral properties ; iron, I 
should think, both from the taste and the ferru- 
ginous sediment that is left in its course. It is singu- 
lar, that vegetation is remarkably strong immediately 
round the spring. When its properties are correctly 
ascertained, it will, in all probability, be of important 
use. At present, it excites no attention." The 
Writer does not state, whether any vapour is formed 
on the surface of the water ; but the spring would 



* Why not give the name of Bolivar to Bogota ? 



COLOMBIA. 



269 



seem, from this account, to be nearly as hot as the 
Aguas Calientes of La Trinchera, near Valencia, 
which Humboldt states to be one of the hottest 
springs in the world, and which is surrounded, in like 
manner, by a luxuriant and verdant vegetation.* 

The road from Cucuta, in each direction, lies 
through verdant avenues, passing rich plantations of 
cocoa, sugar-cane, coffee, and cotton. Grapes of very 
good quality are grown in the neighbourhood. The 
climate is hot, and, to a European, therefore, or a 
native of the mountain plateaus^ a less desirable resi- 
dence than the cities which are built at a higher eleva- 
tion. The cocoa of the valley of Cucuta is very 
highly esteemed : the greater part descends to Mara- 
caybo by the Sulia, being brought by land to the 
bridge of Caehos, near the village of Limonsito, a dis- 
tance of six leagues, and an extremely bad road. But 
part of the produce descends the Magdalena to Mon- 
pox and Cartagena, on which account the cocoa is 
called Magdalena cocoa. This road, however, is 
unhealthy and inconvenient. A regular intercourse 
is carried on through San Christoval -f with Vari- 
nas, where a considerable quantity of specie, drawn 
from the province of Pamplona,' is expended in the 
purchase of ^nules and cattle. Although pasturage 
is abundant, oxen are not bred in these valleys. % 
Salt is obtained from Chita in Casanare, or Zipaquira, 
near Bogota, but some is brought from the coast. 

* See page 197. 

t This city, which is not found in the maps, lies 20 leagues N.E . 
of Pamplona. It was founded in 1560. Alcedo states the popula- 
tion at 400 housekeepers. It was included in the government of 
Maracaybo, and is now in decay. 

$ Mollien's Travels, Note I. pp. 429 — 30. Alcedo states, that 
Cucuta was famed for an excellent breed of mules, who fed chiefly 
on " wild marjoram." 



270 



COLOMBIA. 



A steep and rocky ascent from the valley of Cucuta, 
leads to a beautiful plain about a mile in extent, at 
the extremity of which is the village of Carillo. 
Though this is higher ground, the place is much in- 
fested with a multitude of snakes of various descrip- 
tions 'and sizes, as well as with those tormentors of 
travellers — mosquitoes. The country people do not 
stir out after dusk without flambeaus to scare the rep- 
tiles. A new road, made within a year or two, leads 
from Carillo to Pamplona, — " the only effort of the 
kind," says our Traveller, " we have met with." 
A tolerable wooden bridge has been thrown across the 
River SanJost, which has its source in the mountains 
that the Traveller has now to climb. A very 
fatiguing and long ascent leads to a table-land en- 
closed by lofty summits. The Travellers halted, the 
second night after leaving Cucuta, at a place called 
Oallinazo, about five leagues from Carillo. The road 
continues gradually to rise, the mountains on either 
side receding, as far as the village of Chopo : it then 
winds round the hills, till, on turning the point of an 
eminence, the traveller suddenly comes in view of the 
city of Pamplona, situated in a vale about a league in 
extent, and " hemmed in on all sides by high hills of 
variously coloured earth. A great many churches 
enliven the effect ; and to each house is attached a 
portion of garden-ground, which, at a distance, has a 
very pretty appearance. The surrounding fields are 
enclosed by stone walls in a very regular manner, 
giving an air of proprietorship which is not often met 
with. Several streams run through the vale from 
north to south.* The very picturesque effect from 

* This should be, evidently, from south to north : the Pam- 
plona river is the Rio del Oro, a branch of the Sulia. 



COLOMBIA. 



271 



the distant eminence was hardly realised on descend- 
ing to the town ; For many of the houses are aban- 
doned, the streets are overgrown with grass, and the 
gardens are neglected." 

The city of Pamplona was founded by Pedro de 
Ursua, in 1549. It derived its former wealth and 
importance chiefly from the gold and copper mines in 
the vicinity. The gold mines of Veta^ which are 
within two days' journey of the city, have not been 
regularly worked for the last century ; but the Indians 
occasionally bring grains to sell of a considerable size. 
Our Traveller was told by the commandant, (the city 
is now a military station,) that he had forwarded to 
the capital the preceding year, a mass of gold weigh- 
ing upwards of six pounds. The parish church is 
reckoned one of the handsomest in the kingdom. It 
is a good deal ornamented, but the only article of 
merit or taste is a painting of St. Francis. The other 
churches contain nothing remarkable. The Jesuits 
had a college here ; the Franciscans, Augustinians, 
and Dominicans, each a monastery; and there is a 
nunnery of the order of Saint Clara. All the con- 
vents, except the latter, are now vacated. The sister- 
hood, thirty-two in number, have the reputation of 
being very rich ; their church has a most splendidly 
ornamented altar-piece, and a multitude of indifferent 
paintings. These edifices, and the whole city, are 
stated (by Alcedo) to have suffered much from the 
earthquake of 1644. The population is now computed 
to be about 3,200, among whom are seen many objects 
frightfully deformed by goitres. It had recently been 
made a depot for invalided soldiers, and upwards of 
300 were at this time in the different hospitals. The 
climate is reckoned by the natives extremely cold. 
Our Traveller states the mean temperature of the day 



272 



COLOMBIA. 



at about 60° : at night, it became as low as 42°. It is 
about 180 miles W.S.W. of Merida, 131 W. of 
Varinas, and 270 N.E. of Bogota. 

South of Pamplona, the country assumes a sterile 
appearance. The soil glitters with a species of mica, 
" so brilliant as to have all the appearance of silver." 
On the summit of a mountain, at the distance of three 
leagues, just above the "miserable village of Cacota," 
is a small lake in which the River Apure is said 
to have its source : the Writer did not observe any 
outlet, but a small current was observed at the foot of 
the hill. At two leagues from Pamplona, he had 
passed a delicious spring of cold water, which issued 
from the mountain. At the end of nine leagues, he 
arrived at the village of Chitaga, f* situated on a high 
spot, commanding the vale." The River Chitaga is 
one of the heads of the Apure ; but, as the elevation 
of these several spots is not given, it is impossible 
to decide which has the best claim to be considered 
as originating the Apure. That river, according to 
Depons, after running for forty leagues toward the 
S.E., bends more directly eastward, and finally turns 
to the south, to join the Orinoco, after a course of 170 
leagues, 60 of which are navigable. The serrania, or 
mountain-ridge, over which the road now continues 
alternately to ascend and descend, is cold and barren. 
Nothing can be more dreary and sterile, says our Tra- 
veller, than the tract becomes after losing sight of 
Chitaga. It is an ascent of five hours to the summit 
of the paramo of Almocadero, which is much dreaded 
on account of the inclement state of the atmosphere 
which often prevails there. This is supposed to be 
the highest ground in the whole road from Caracas. 
31 any a traveller, we are told, who has fallen a vic- 
tim to the severities of the passage, lies buried on the 



COLOMBIA. 



273 



summit. u Human bones were even then lying about, 
and some hundreds of rude crosses have been erected 
by the passing traveller, either to commemorate a 
friend who had been emparamado (fallen a victim to 
the paramo), or as a grateful offering for having 
escaped the danger." * The only inconvenience which 
the Writer suffered, however, was chapped lips. The 
sun shone with cloudless splendour, and the glass did 
not fall below 62°. But at Hato Jurado, a farm and 
pulperia which he reached after a gradual descent of 
an hour and a half, the thermometer fell, during 
the night, to 52°. 

The country gradually improves in fertility and 
cultivation, as the traveller descends to the valley of 
the Tequia. At a short distance from La Conception, 
is M a considerable formation of sulphur, which im- 
pregnates the surrounding atmosphere," but no use is 
made of it. At Llano Anciso, where the Tequia is 
crossed by a rude bridge, the Travellers were repeat- 
edly saluted, as they rode through the village, with 
the exclamation, Mir a ! no tienen gotos ; meanings 
we are told, " See, they have no goitres," — the almost 
universal disease in this place. A handsome premium 

* In crossing the paramo of Chisba in 1819, many of the British 
and other troops in the patriot service miserably perished. " On 
this paramo, the air is so exceedingly rarefied, that it is very diffi- 
cult to breathe, and those who are affected by it (or emparamados) 
become benumbed, froth at the mouth, and lose their senses, tear 
out their hair, and, bereft of every sense of feeling by degrees, 
ultimately perish. The natives recommend eating sugar and 
drinking water, in preference to spirits, on passing these places, 
and flagellation to those who shew symptoms of being affected, 
not letting them stop for an instant. Ignorant at the time of these 
remedies, and all except the flagellation being out of their power, 
fifty Englishmen, besides two officers, and upwards of a hundred 
of the native troops, fell a sacrifice, without the possibility of 
assistance being given them."-— Cochrane's Travels, vol. i. p. 480. 



274 



COLOMBIA. 



is said to have been decreed by the legislature for the 
discovery of a remedy or antidote for this frightful 
disease. The road from this place, after leaving the 
Tequia, which continues to wind amid arid, rocky 
mountains, crosses two parallel ranges, to the valley 
of the Chichamache. Here, again, at the small village 
of Capitanejo, a large proportion of the inhabitants 
were seen disfigured by goitres, together with a 
species of elephantiasis, by which the limbs are swelled 
to an unnatural size. A new church had lately been 
built here, and a pretty bridge thrown across the 
muddy river, the water of which was found intole- 
rably bad, — the only place where this had been ob- 
served. The Travellers were here " entertained" 
with a new species of vermin, called cucurachos, about 
the size of a large beetle, which found their way into 
their hammocks. The temperature varied, during 
their stay, from 82° to 86°. The following day, pass- 
ing over another low mountain, they reached Soata. 
u The approach to this town," we are told, " is one 
of the most imposing sights imaginable. At the back 
of the town, which is situated mid-way on a sloping 
eminence, the land, divided by hedges, like the sections 
of a map, is cultivated to the very summit. The moun- 
tains here appear to concentrate their chains, forming 
a vast amphitheatre of prodigious height and mag- 
nitude : one mass rises above another, till their heads 
are lost in the clouds." A storm was impending over 
their dark summits as the Travellers approached the 
town ; and the effect of the thunder, rolling from one 
chain to another, was extremely grand. In itself, 
Soata possesses little worthy of note. They were 
hospitably received by the alcalde, but all pleasurable 
feelings were neutralised by the unsightly objects 
which several of his family presented, through the 



COLOMBIA, 



275 



effect of goitres. At Satiou, which they reached 
early the next day but one, a village situated on an 
elevated plain backed by a semicircular mountain, 
the Travellers noticed, with high satisfaction, the 
comparative absence of this deformity.* It was Sun- 
day and market-day ; the village was consequently all 
bustle ; and among the crowd, some pretty faces were 
distinguishable through the blue mantles worn by the 
women over the head and shoulders, ami surmounted 
with a straw hat. The tout ensemble of this costume, 
with blue petticoats and sandals made of cord, is not 
unlike the dress of the Welch peasantry. 

A gradual and slippery descent from this ele- 
vated plain, leads to the vale of Serinza. " Thus 
far," says our Traveller, " there is a striking dif- 
ference between Venezuela and New Granada : the 
former is more wooded, less thickly peopled, and, 
generally speaking, more fertile. But, as we now 
gradually leave the chain of the Andes, the soil is 
better cultivated, numerous huts and cottages present 
themselves, each possessing a portion of ground more 
than sufficient to support the inhabitants ; and tne 
roads continue to improve as we advance. We de- 
scended into the vale of Serinza, presenting a different 
aspect from any of the varied scenes that have 
occurred during the journey. The contrast is most 
striking. An extensive and perfectly even flat, vary- 
ing from a quarter to half a mile in breadth, is 

* These endemic glandular complaints are very prevalent in 
many parts of Brazil, particularly on the hanks of the Parai'ba, and 
in the mining districts. — See Mod. Tbav. Brazil, vol. i. p. 246 ; 
vol. ii. p. 39. Almost all travellers agree in attributing them to 
the properties of the waters of the rivers, which are, for the most 
part, charged with earthy particles. The exclusive use of spring 
water, and plenty of salt, are recommended as the best preser- 
vatives. 



276 



COLOMBIA. 



bounded on each side by a range of moderately high 
mountains of arable land. The valley is in general 
cultivation, and remarkably fertile, producing fine 
crops of maize, wheat, beans, potatoes, peas, &c« 
all of which were in a state of spring-like verdure, 
and cultivated with the utmost regularity and clean- 
liness. Verdant meadow -lands intersect the tillage ; 
the River Serinza (lower down, called the Chiquito,) 
slowly winding through the midst, with a placidity 
more resembling 6 the soft-flowing Avon,' than a 
mountain-stream in America* The whole extent of 
the valley, which, with different windings, may be 
three or four leagues in length, is extremely well 
peopled. Many of the cottages were adorned with 
flowers, and very neat. The land belonging to each 
individual is partitioned off by mud-walls or hedges, 
giving a further appearance of civilisation and inde- 
pendence ; and the pasturage is abundantly stocked 
with sheep, oxen, and horses. It is, upon the whole, 
a most interesting tract, and gives a favourable 
opinion of the kingdom of New Granada. We took a 
slight repast at the house of the village curate, which 
is about half-way in the vale. According to his 
account, the parish contains a population of upwards 
of 3,000 persons. In the early part of the Revolution, 
these people made extraordinary exertions in the 
cause of the patriots. WTien Bolivar arrived with his 
army, worn out with fatigue, from the banks of the 
Apure, they clothed them, remounted their officers 
and a great part of the cavalrv, and supplied them 
with necessaries at their own expense. Its known 
patriotism brought upon it, during its subsequent 
occupation by the Spaniards, the greatest hardships 
and contributions without number." 

The village of Serinza has, according to Alcedo, the 



COLOMBIA. 



277 



pompous dedicatory title of Nuestra Senhora de Belen 
del Valle, Three leagues further, is the large and 
populous village of Santa Rosa ; and two leagues be- 
yond, in a rich and productive plain, the straggling- 
village of Duitama. This place was formerly the 
head of a distinct corregimiento, and, previously to 
the conquest, is said to have been 66 a great and rich 
city of the Mozca nation, the capital of Tundama, one 
of the most powerful princes in the kingdom, who 
was routed in the battle of Bonza by Quesada in 1538, 
and afterward became tributary to the crown of Cas- 
tile." Three leagues beyond Duitama, is the village 
of Paypa, where ^the Spaniards, had their head quar- 
ters previously to the affair at Bargas, which was 
followed, a few days after, by the decisive battle of 
Boyaca, which opened the way to Bogota. Four 
leagues further, the Travellers quitted the road, and 
crossed the plain to the village of Tuta. The next 
day, (the 11th from Pamplona, one of which was 
passed at Soata,) they reached the city of Tunja. 



TUNJA. 

This provincial capital, founded in 1539, was, at 
one time, one of the most opulent cities in the king- 
dom, and its inhabitants boasted of being descended 
from the first conquerors. The province of Tunja, 
(bounded on the S. by that of Bogota, on the W. 
by the River Magdalena, which divides it from Mari- 
quita, on the E. by Casanare, and on the N. by Pam- 
plona,) formed, prior to the conquest, the kingdom of 
Hunzusta, whose zaques (or sovereigns) were inde- 
pendent of the monarchs of Bogota and Zipa. Though 
generally of a cold and dry climate, it is fertile in 

PART IT. R 



278 



COLOMBIA. 



grain, and has yielded tobacco of excellent quality ; it 
abounds also in salt-petre, on which account the only 
government powder-manufactories were established 
here; and it was celebrated for its gold mines and 
emeralds. The city is seated on an eminence in the 
same valley in which the Indian capital was placed ; 
and it is seen at a considerable distance, surrounded 
with stony heights and swampy meadows. Our Tra- 
veller was much disappointed on a nearer examination 
of the town. There is little worthy of notice except 
the churches and convents. The architecture of these 
edifices is of the simplest, frequently the rudest kind. 
The portal to the parish church of Santiago is, how- 
ever, an exception ; it is carved in stone, and is of toler- 
able execution. In the interior are several very old 
pictures of some merit, apparently by Spanish masters. 
Alcedo mentions two other churches, Santa Barbara 
and Las Nieves, and three hermitages, dedicated to 
San Lorenzo, Santa Lucia, and Nuestra Senhora de 
Chiquinquira. The lofty plain on which the last of 
these is built, is called Los Ahorcados (the gallows), 
" on account of its being, in the times of paganism, 
ornamented with the bones and skulls of persons 
offered in sacrifice." There are two monasteries, 
Franciscan and Dominican ; and two nunneries, one 
of Santa Clara (a rich order), and one of La Concep- 
cion. A third monastery, of the order of San Juan 
de Dios, has been converted into a military hospital, 
under the inspection of the order, who profess medi- 
cine, and give advice and medicine gratis. None of 
the religious orders appear to have been suppressed at 
Tunja. The monks, our Traveller says, shewed with 
alacrity all that was to be seen in their respective 
monasteries, the ornaments of which consist chiefly in 
a profusion of images and gilt work, very rich and 



COLOMBIA. 



279 



gaudy, and a great number of pictures, the larger part 
mere trash, but some few of merit. Besides these 
institutions, there have lately been established here, 
a public college called the Colegio de Boyaca^ in 
which the higher classes are taught philosophy, ma- 
thematics, and divinity, and, for the poor of the town, 
a school on the Lancasterian plan. The latter was 
visited by our Traveller, who was struck with the 
regularity with which it is conducted, and the fine 
appearance of the youths, sixty in number, several of 
whom had made considerable progress. There is a 
salt-petre manufactory here, which formerly employed 
more than 200 persons. The earth from which the 
salt is extracted, is found in abundance in the vicinity, 
but the proportion of the mineral is only one per cent. 
The temperature of the air at Tunja was found very 
pleasant, varying from 58° to 70° ; but, in taking 
exercise, the whole party experienced an oppressive 
sensation at the chest from the rarity of the atmo- 
sphere. Alcedo says, the climate is dry and cold, 
being continually refreshed with winds, but healthy. 
There is a deficiency of fuel and water : the only 
supply of the latter is conveyed by an aqueduct from 
the height commanding the city. It is reckoned 54 
miles N.N.E. of Bogota. 

At two leagues from Tunja, on the road to the 
capital of New Granada, is the memorable field of 
Boyaca. The whole of this tract of country is bare 
and open. " The Spaniards had their centre in the 
plain, protected in front by a small river and ravine, 
their right occupying a rising ground, beyond which 
was the bridge of Boyaca, defended by the artillery. 
Here it was that their position was first forced by the 
English troops y who gained the bridge, and charged 
up to the mouths of the guns, all of which were taken, 



230 



COLOMBIA. 



together with the Spanish general Barreira, his staff, 
and a great number of prisoners."* 

Beyond Boyaca, the country improves, spontaneous 
vegetation re -appears, the roads are good and free 
from stones, and the soil is cultivated and tolerably 
peopled. Beyond the village of Alto Viego, the coun- 
try widens into a rich plain, well cultivated with 
wheat and other grain, in the middle of which is the 
village of Choconta. The road then descends to the 
rich pasture-lands of San Vicente, watered by the 
River Bogota : these in some parts are very marshy, 
and abound with herons of beautiful plumage. After 
passing through several villages called the pueblos , 
the road at length turns the foot of a range of hills 
running N. and S., and enters the line of plain that 
conducts to the capital. It is of considerable width, 
and presents the appearance of high cultivation. In 
the midst runs the Bogota, while the horizon is 
bounded by distant mountains. The first glimpse of 
the capital is caught from an eminence four leagues 
distant from it. From the village of Susaquia, dis- 
tant only four miles, is obtained a splendid view of the 
city and the plain which extends in front of it ; but, 
as the traveller draws nearer, he is astonished at the 
neglected state of the valuable land in its immediate 
vicinity, and the bad state of the roads. At length, 
on the 23d of April, our Traveller had the satisfaction 
of finding himself in the capital of the Republic, after 
a journey of two months, forty-six days of which were 
spent on the road,-j- having completed a journey of 

* This battle was fought on the 8th of August, 1819. The 
royalists are said to have lost 2,000 men in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners. On the 10th, Bolivar entered Bogota in triumph. 

t The public despatches are generally forwarded from Caracas 
to Bogota in forty days. They are conveyed by men who travel 
on foot day and night, but are relieved at every village. 



COLOMBIA. 



281 



above 300 leagues from Caracas.* Before, however, we 
proceed to give a description of the city itself, we shall 

* We have given at pp. 222 and 249, the itinerary from Valencia 
to San Carlos, and from San Carlos to Barquesimeto. Thus far, 
the distances seem pretty well ascertained, viz. 

Leagues. 

From Caracas to Valencia 30^ 

From Valencia to San Carlos 23^ 

From San Carlos to Barquesimeto 23 

From Barquesimeto to Merida, the distances may 
be reckoned as follow : 
From Barquesimeto — 
To Tocuyo 15 leagues. 

— Olmucaro 9 hows. 

— Aguao d'Obispos 9^ 

— Carache 7 

— Mocoy 10 leagues. 

— Panpanito 2^- 

— Mendoza 8 

— Timotes 7\ hours. 

— Mucuchies 7i 

— Merida 7 

— 83 

From Merida to Cucuta thus : 
To San Juan 6 leagues. 

— Estanques 5 

— Bayladores 8 

— La Grita 7 

— Savanna Larga 10 

— Cucuta 12 

— 48 

208 

From Cucuta to Bogota, according to CoL Hall • • 103 

311 

This ill coincides with the general computation of the country 
(p. 245) of 1,200 miles. The discrepancy arises, probably, from the 
equivocal meaning of the league. In Alcedo's Dictionary, the dis- 
tance between Merida and Pamplona is stated to be only 112 miles. 
This is, perhaps, an error for 212, which is nearer the truth. Pam- 
plona appears to be in fact about 12 leagues from Cucuta, and con- 
sequently 60 from Merida. We flatter ourselves that the above 
itinerary will be found sufficiently correct to serve the purpose of 
travellers. 

it 2 



282 



COLOMBIA. 



trace the route of two other Travellers who reached 
Bogota, by way of Monpox, from Santa Marta and 
Cartagena. 

CARTAGENA. 

In Nov. 1822, M. G. JVlollien, a French Traveller 
already known to the public by his travels in the 
interior of Africa, landed at Cartagena. The port 
is a magnificent one. The bay is one of the largest 
and best on the whole coast, extending two leagues 
and a half from N. to S. ; it has capital anchorage, 
though the many shallows at the entrance require a 
careful steerage ; and, being completely land-locked, 
is so smooth, that vessels ride here as on a river. 
The better to defend the approach, the Spaniards 
have blocked up the Boca Grande, by sinking old 
vessels in it. Boca Chica is a great distance from 
the anchorage. 66 Men-of-war," Capt. Cochrane says, 
wt sometimes anchor off the north side of the city, and 
send their boats in through Boca Grande, having 
previously obtained permission of the governor. So 
great was the fear of the Spaniards, lest they should 
be surprised by a foreign enemy, that they would 
rarely allow the boats to use this passage, wishing to 
keep all foreigners in ignorance of such an entrance ; 
and, as an additional means of preventing vessels from 
passing in by this mouth, they sunk several ships, 
which blocked it up, only allowing depth sufficient for 
row-boats. There is no doubt that the Colombians 
will now remove these impediments to the entrance, 
by the use of proper machinery to raise the stones, 
and weigh the vessels which contain them ; which 
being done, the current will soon carry off the accu- 
mulation of sand, and afford easy access to the city, 
by the Boca Grande, to vessels bound to the port. In 



COLOMBIA. 



283 



consequence of the blocking up of this entrance, iships 
are compelled to go round by Boca Chica, a circuit of 
thirty miles, to gain the usual road-stead for frigates, 
and which is three or four miles from the town. If 
a jetty were thrown out, or a chain-pier erected on 
the north side of the city, which is very feasible, con- 
stant communication might be kept up between vessels 
lying at anchor on that side of the town, and landing 
be easily effected." The Boca Chica (narrow mouth) 
is defended by two strong castles. The bay abounds 
with fish and excellent turtles. Sharks are so nume- 
rous as to render bathing highly dangerous, and they 
have been known to attack even boats. The Indian 
name of the place was Caiamari, which signifies, we 
are told by Alcedo, the land of cray-fish. The city is 
built on a small peninsula, originally a sandy island, 
but now connected with the continent by an artificial 
neck of land. It has a suburb, called Xiximani, 
almost as large as the city, built on another island, 
and communicating with it by means of a wooden 
bridge. Both the city and the suburb are surrounded 
with strong fortifications of free-stone. At a short 
distance from the town, on the main land, is a hill 
commanding these fortifications, on which is a strong 
fort. This eminence, which is about 150 feet high, 
communicates on the east with a range of more ele- 
vated hills, terminating in a summit 550 feet above 
the sea, on which stands the Augustinian monastery 
of Nuestra Senhora de la Popa. " The height of La 
Popa is not fortified, which," says Capt. Cochrane, 
44 is unaccountable, as it has several times been the 
cause of the fall of Cartagena, without almost a single 
shot being fired. The Colombians have now some 
idea of fortifying it. I found lying there a large brass 
eighteen-pounder that had been brought by Morillo, 



284 



COLOMBIA. 



and the remains of a fascine and mud-battery erected 
by Bolivar when he attacked Cartagena. Had Ad- 
miral Vernon landed a few cannon, and had them 
dragged here by a body of seamen, he must have cap- 
tured the place, as the possessors of this point will 
always be masters of the city. On the summit, at 
the western extremity, is the Augustin convent of 
Nuestra Senhora de la Popa y which was formerly 
very rich. I saw the room where Bolivar was sitting 
during the siege, when a shot entering at the window, 
shattered the shutter, passed over his head, struck 
the wall, bounded back, and then, striking the side 
wall, bounced out at another window, without doing 
Bolivar any injury. The monastery is now almost 
in ruins, and is tenanted by one solitary friar, who 
occasionally makes a little money by letting one or 
two rooms to people who wish to enjoy cooler air than 
that of the town, which would be insufferable were it 
not for an almost constant sea-breeze.' ' 

The town produces by no means a pleasing impres- 
sion, in contrast with the cheerful sea-ports of the 
United States, from which the French Traveller had 
recently sailed. "Cartagena, in fact," he says, "pre- 
sents the melancholy aspect of a cloister. Long gal- 
leries, short and clumsy columns, streets narrow and 
dark, from the too great projection of the terraces, 
which almost prevent the admission of day -light ; the 
greater part of the houses dirty, full of smoke, po- 
verty-stricken, and sheltering beings still more filthy, 
black, and miserable ; — such is the picture at first pre- 
sented by a city adorned with the name of the rival 
of Rome. However, on entering the houses, their 
construction, singular at first sight^ appears afterwards 
to be well contrived, the object being to admit the 
circulation of the fresh air. The rooms are nothing 



COLOMBIA* 



but immense vestibules, in which the cool air, unfor- 
tunately so rare, might be respired with the utmost 
delight, were it not for the stings of thousands of 
insects, and for the bats, whose bites are not only 
more painful, but are even said to be venemous. A 
table, half a dozen wooden chairs, a mat bed, a large 
jar, and two candlesticks, generally compose the 
whole stock of furniture of these habitations, which 
are built of brick, and covered in with tiles. Two 
sieges which Cartagena has undergone, have ruined 
the resources of the majority of its inhabitants. 

" Cartagena is very strong, and of vast extent. 
Nine thousand men at least would be required to de- 
fend it at all points. The immense cisterns contained 
within its walls, are justly objects of admiration ; and 
the water preserved in them is excellent. Carta- 
gena is, therefore, rather a fortified than a commercial 
town, and will entirely cease to be the latter, when it 
is no longer the entrepot of Panama. At a distance 
of 200 leagues from the equator, its temperature is 
hot and unhealthy, and the yellow fever makes fre- 
quent ravages there. The population of Cartagena, 
about 18,000 souls, is, for the most part, composed of 
people of colour, the greater proportion of whom are 
sailors or fishermen.* Many keep shops for the sale 
of mercery or eatables, others follow useful trades : 
they display a nascent industry, which, to prosper, 
requires, perhaps, only encouragement and emulation. 
Their shell-works are beautiful. They are skilful 
jewellers, good carpenters, excellent shoemakers, to- 
lerable tailors, indifferent joiners, blacksmiths rather 
than whitesmiths, masons destitute of all ideas of pro- 
portion, and bad painters, but impassioned musicians. 



* The population was formerly'estimated at from 24 to 25,000. 



COLOMBIA. 



'* The dangers of the sea, and an industry often 
praised and always well paid, have inspired the 
people of colour with a pride which often gives occa- 
sion for complaint. Their petulance and vivacity 
form a singular contrast with the indifference and 
mildness of those who are called Whites, so that, not- 
withstanding their idleness, they appear active and 
laborious. The contraband trade is exclusively con- 
fined to them, and the heartiness with which they 
engage in it, is a reproach to those whose duty it is 
to put a stop to the illicit traffic. 

" The women of colour, the offspring of negresses 
and white men, are tall, and much more agreeable 
than the mulattoes of our Antilles, who are generally 
too corpulent : daughters of the Indians and negroes, 
their physiognomy possesses greater delicacy and ex- 
pression. If, on the one hand, the races become more 
enervated under the tropics as they become fairer, 
on the other, their personal appearance is improved. 
Thus it is, that the female mulattoes are very inferior 
in beauty to the whites, and lose much when seen 
near them, which often happens with the Spaniards, 
in whose churches there are no privileged places, as 
in those of the United States. With the Spaniards, 
all pray to God in common, without regard to colour ; 
and an insurrection would doubtless be the consequence, 
should the following notice be officially affixed at the 
church-doors : To-day instruction for men of colour." 

Cartagena was founded by Pedro de Heredia in 
1533. It was made an episcopal city in 1534. Owing 
to its fine situation, it soon attracted the attention of 
foreigners, particularly the French. It was sacked by 
a Corsican pirate in 1544. In 1583, Sir Francis Drake, 
after pillaging it, set it on fire, but it was rescued 
from the flames by a ransom of 120,000 ducats paid 



COLOMBIA. 



287 



him by the neighbouring colonies. It was invaded 
and pillaged a third time, by the French, in 1697- 
In the year 1741, it was invested by the English 
under Admiral Vernon and Sir Charles Ogle, who 
succeeded in destroying the forts ; but, owing, as it is 
said, to a misunderstanding between the naval and 
military commanders, and a mortality among the 
troops, the enterprise was precipitately abandoned 
with considerable loss. It has suffered much in the 
revolutionary contest. The climate is very hot, espe- 
cially during the rainy season, which lasts from May 
to November, and is attended by a continued succes- 
sion of tempests and thunder-storms. The streets 
have then the appearance of rivers, and all the cisterns 
and tanks are filled, to which the inhabitants are 
indebted for their only supply of sweet water. From 
December to April, the weather is fine, and the heat 
is tempered by north-east winds. The black vomit is 
almost as fatal here to strangers as at Vera Cruz. 
The inhabitants are very subject to leprosy. Bats 
are so numerous, that they cover the streets in an 
evening, in clouds, and there is not a house in which 
these nocturnal visiters are not found. Beetles, 
centipedes, scorpions, niguas^ and morcielagos, are 
among the insect annoyances of the place ; besides 
which, Alcedo mentions the culebrilla, which breeds 
under the skin, causing a swelling which often ter- 
minates in gangrene, and produces convulsions. 
Merchandise is very liable to be destroyed by the 
moth. The inhabitants have in general a very un- 
healthy appearance, and yet, there are said to be 
many instances of longevity. Cartagena was the 
residence of the bishop, and of a captain-general 
dependent on the viceroy of Santa Fe. One of the 



288 



COLOMBIA. 



three tribunals of the Inquisition in America, was 
also established here : the two others were at Mexico 
and Lima. The Jesuits had a college here ; the 
Franciscans, the Augustinians, the Mercedarians, 
the barefoot Carmelites, and the orders of San Diego 
and San Juan de Dios, had each a convent ; there is 
a nunnery of the order of San Clara, and a hospital 
for lepers. It stands in lat. 10° 26' 35" N., long. 
75° 26' 45" W. 

On the 10th of Jan. (1823), the Author set out 
on his journey for Bogota, and proceeded as far as 
the village of Turbaco, six leagues from Cartagena. 
According to the travelling custom of the Spanish 
Americans, he had provided himself with a kettle, a 
frying-pan, and all the utensils and provisions not 
procurable on the road, together with a Spanish travel- 
ling-bed, contained in a small trunk easily carried by 
a mule. Turbaco is situated nearly 1,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, at the entrance of a majestic 
forest of vast extent. It is the site of the Indian 
capital of Calamari, which is said to have contained 
upwards of 200,000 inhabitants. The situation is 
delightful, and the temperature mild and salubrious. 
" All night long," says M. Mollien, " I felt it very 
cool ; a proof that this place is very healthy for Euro- 
peans, who, from fear of the climate of Cartagena, 
should remain here till their vessels are ready to sail." 
In the neighbourhood of this village, there is said to 
be a singular marsh, (though it is not mentioned by 
this Traveller,) embosomed in a forest of palms, tolu- 
trees, &c. from which rise eighteen or twenty little 
conical mounts, twenty or thirty feet above the level 
of the swamp. They are formed of blackish clay, and 
each has a small crater filled with water at its apex. 



COLOMBIA. 



289 



u On approaching this pool, a hollow moaning is 
heard at intervals,* followed in a few seconds by an 
explosion of gas. Five of these detonations take place 
in abont two minutes, frequently accompanied with 
an ejection of muddy water. These cones are called 
Los Volcanitos de Turbaco, and are situated about 
three miles and a half east of the village, at the ele- 
vation of more than 160 feet above it. The people 
say that the plain formerly sent forth names, but that 
a priest of great sanctity succeeded, by frequently 
casting holy water towards it, in extinguishing the 
fire, after which it became a water volcano." This 
phenomenon is evidently of the same description as 
the ho^nitos of Jorullo.* 

On the fourth day after leaving Turbaco, our Tra- 
veller reached Burranca, the town at which travellers 
ascending the Magdalena, embark in the dry season.-^ 
" Although, on the road from Cartagena to Barranca, 
there are neither rugged "mountains nor deep rivers 
to cross, yet, the suffocating heat which prevails in 
the forests he has to traverse, occasions much suffering 
to the European traveller. It is true," adds M. Mol- 
lien, " that, to make up for these evils, he is sure to 
meet with hospitality ; nor is it a trifling advantage, 
to find, in the deserts of the New World, a lodging, a 

* See Mod. Trav., Mexico, vol. ii. p. 123. 

t In the rainy season, the Dique, a branch of the Magdalena, is 
navigable, by means of which a water communication is effected 
with Cartagena ; but it can only be passed, at present, from four 
to six months in the year. From Cartagena, the goods go by 
water to Mahates, and are then forwarded on mules to Barranca, 
where they are shipped on board champans for Honda. A Mr. 
Elbers, however, a German gentleman, has undertaken to com- 
plete the water communication with Cartagena by rendering the 
Diqus navigable during the whole of the year ; and lie has obtained 
an exclusive grant for navigating the river with steam-boats for a 
period of twenty years, 

PART II. S 



290 



COLOMBIA. 



kitchen, and the power of procuring, at a small ex- 
pense, fowls, eggs, and bread : beef is very seldom to 
be met with. The aspect of these countries is inte- 
resting to the admirers of wild and savage scenerv. 
Trees of immense height and a rich vegetation 
cover the whole country ; and the shade thus af- 
forded would be delicious, could it be penetrated by 
cooling breezes. The mahagua (bombax) is especially 
worthy of engaging the traveller's attention. The 
trunk of this tree is very lofty, and bears upon its top 
a foliage extremely thick ; the fruit contains a woolly 
substance, which the negroes gather very carefully 
for the purpose of stuffing their pillows. But few 
things have been planted on these vast tracts by the 
hand of man. A few cotton and maize fields, or a 
few square feet planted with indigo, compose the 
whole of their agricultural riches. Under a kind 
master, the negro here gives himself up to the idleness 
to which he is invited by the heat of the equinoctial 
line, and the multiplicity of his religious festivals. 
Bound to pay his landlord a fixed and moderate rent, 
he is punctual in discharging it, as much labour is 
not required to obtain its amount. Thus, in the 
space which separates Barranca from the seas, a ter- 
ritory is found, which is cultivated and inhabited 
similarly to those which I had traversed in Africa. 
I should even have been sometimes tempted to believe 
that I was still travelling upon that continent, had I 
not every where seen the authority in the hands of 
the Whites, or of people who affect that title, without 
possessing any real right to it. The road, although 
convenient enough, is not very level ; the ground is 
hilly, so that the traveller is frequently ascending and 
descending. As this road is, during the dry season, 
the principal line of communication between the capi- 



COLOMBIA. 



291 



tal and the coast, its traffic is considerable. Yet, 
i notwithstanding, no rich towns are to be met with. 
There are a few cattle, but, at this season, they are 
very poor. All animals in the tropical plains, like 
the plants, require the rains to invigorate them : these 
being over, they again droop and languish. Jaguars, 
monkeys, and parrots make the air re-echo with their 
! cries ; and stags and wild hogs abound in the woods. 
I Nothing picturesque is to be found in these extensive 
j forests, the dull uniformity of which is only now and 
then varied by numerous tribes of flowers. Upon 
approaching the Magdalena, the prospect becomes 
more inviting ; the long tracts of granite (gres) which 
impart so sombre a character to the road from Carta- 
gena to Barranca, disappear ; alluvial lands seem to 
invite the inhabitants to bestow a better cultivation 
upon them ; the verdure, more frequently watered, 
is less sickly ; while the cattle, feeding upon more 
juicy pastures, are fatter and more prolific." 

The noble river by which the provinces of Neyva, 
Popayan, Mariquita, Antioquia, Santa Marta, and 
Cartagena communicate with each other, (named the 
Magdalena from its heing first discovered by Rodrigo 
Bastidas on St. Mary Magdalen's day, 1525,) issues 
from the lake of Papas, in the paramo of Guanacas, 
in the province of Popayan, in lat. 1° 5' N., long. 14S 
W. During almost the whole of its course, upwards 
of 300 leagues in length, it flows along the same 
meridian, gathering the waters of numerous con- 
fluents, some of which are considerable rivers. Of 
these, the principal is the Cauca, which rises in the 
mountains of Mariquita further southward, and which 
would present similar advantages for navigation, did 
not its bed become gradually narrower, as it ap- 
proaches the point of junction with the Magdalena, 



292 



COLOMBIA. 



which renders its course dangerous and in many parts 
impracticable. The Magdalena, on the contrary, 
becomes wider as it flows onward. Nature seems to 
have designed this river, remarks M. Mollien, as a 
channel of communication between the mountains 
and the sea ; yet, it would have been nothing better 
than an unnavigable torrent, had not its course been 
arrested in many parts by masses of rock so disposed 
as to break its violence. Three very different tempe- 
ratures prevail on this river. The sea-breezes blow 
from its mouth as far as Monpox. From that town 
to Morales, not a breath of air tempers the heat of 
the atmosphere, and, but for the abundant dews which 
fall at night, it would be insupportable. From Morales 
to the sources of the river, land-breezes from the 
south moderate the heat of the day, and render the 
navigation practicable. Along the whole course of 
the river, however, innumerable insect tormentors 
wage war upon the lord of the creation. Mosquitoes 
near the sea, and, further up, enormous flies called 
tabanos, " glut themselves with his blood." Should 
the traveller wish to bathe, he is in danger of being 
devoured by alligators ; and if he venture on shore, 
he has to dread the bite of venomous serpents. No- 
thing, therefore, according to this Traveller, can be 
more alarming than a voyage up the Magdalena. 
" Even the eye," he says, " is rarely gratified ; for 
the fertile banks of this river, which ought to be 
covered with cocoa, sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, and to- 
bacco plantations, and which should present the thirsty 
traveller with the delicious fruits of the tropics, are 
covered with thick bushes, bindweed, and thorns, from 
the midst of which shoot up the cocoa and other palm- 
trees. The solitude of the forests on its uncultivated 
borders, the heat that we experienced, and the blacks 



COLOMBIA. 



293 



who, at considerable intervals, were seen seated in 
their cabins of reeds, surrounded by fields of maize, 
or cleaving the current of the river in hollow trees, 
transported me in imagination to the wilds of Africa." 
The river in many respects reminded our Traveller of 
the Senegal. Other travellers, however, speak in very 
different terms of the scenery on the banks.* The con- 
fluence of the Cauca and the Magdalena, below Monpox, 
is especially interesting. " For a river scene," we are 
told, " nothing can be more grand than the junction 
of these two majestic streams, whose waters seem to 
contend with each other for the superiority ; and it is 
not till after a distance of several leagues, that the 
clearer stream of the Cauca is ultimately engulfed in 
the more muddy Magdalena. At the point where 
they meet, the scenery is strikingly beautiful ; the 
banks of each being clothed with wood. The pictu- 
resque little village of Pinto, built in a grove of cocoa- 
nut trees, and characterised by two mango-trees in 
the centre, (a peculiarity observable in most of the 
villages on the river,) forms a beautiful object on the 
west bank, at the spot where the rivers meet. Fine 
rising woodlands to the S.W., and the mountains to 
the N., add greatly to the grandeur and majesty of 
the scene." -f- 

In the latter part of its course, the Magdalena 
divides the provinces of Cartagena and Santa Marta, 

* The Author of Letters from Colombia, who descended 
the river from Honda to Santa Marta, thus speaks of the 
scenery which it presents: " This majestic river, in itself a 
mine of wealth to the luxuriant and universally fertile country 
through which it runs, surpasses, in its natural richness and gran- 
deur of scenery, all that can possibly be imagined, studded with 
numerous beautiful islands, and receiving innumerable and mag- 
nificent tributary streams." p. 199. 

t " Letters from Colombia," p. 195. 



294 



COLOMBIA. 



giving its name to the department which comprises 
those two provinces together with that of Rio Hacha, 
so named from the river which forms its eastern 
boundary. The provinces of Rio Hacha and Santa 
Marta, which are separated by no natural boundary, 
comprise together a tract of country about two degrees 
in longitude, and one and a half in latitude, intersected 
by the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. Between this 
lofty ridge and the sea, extend fertile and for the 
most part unoccupied lands, which it is thought would 
present eligible situations for foreign settlers. The 
Brazil-wood abounds in Rio Hacha, and might be 
rendered a very profitable article of commerce. 
" Another tract of country scarcely less advanta- 
geous," says Col. Hall, " lies between the Ocana and 
Santa Marta mountains, to the north and south, and 
the towns of El Valle and Chiriguana to the east and 
west. It communicates with the Magdalena by a 
series of small lakes ; with the interior, by the Ocana 
mountains ; and with the sea-coast by Santa Marta 
and Rio Hacha.* It contains a length of about thirty 

* Col. Hall gives the following itinerary of the route from Rio 
Hacha to Santa Marta: 

Leagues. Leagues. 

From Rio Hacha — 



To Moreno 7 

— Fonseca 8 

— San Juan 3^ 

— Badillo 6 

— El Valle 4± 

— Valencia de Jesus • ■ • • 3 

— Ha to de Comperuche. . 9 

— Guaycaras 10 

(across the Alto de Minas) 

51 



Brought forward -.51 
To Hato de Chimeles 8 

— San Carlos or Fundacioro 9 

— Rio Aricutaca 8 

— Rio Tucarinca 3 

— Rio Riguenca 5 

— Rio Frio 5 

— Serillano 3 

— Ceinaga 1 

— Santa Marta 7 

100 



The greater part of the road is level, through thick forests, broken 
by occasional savannas. Mountain roads branch off from Fonseca 
and Valencia de Jesus. 



COLOMBIA. 



295 



leagues, with an indefinite breadth towards the 
mountains, consisting of alternate woods and savan- 
nas, watered by abundant streams. The climate, 
though warm, is healthy, and untroubled by the in- 
sects which swarm near the great rivers. Between 
Chiriguana and the Indian village of the Cienaga, 
on the sea-coast near Santa Marta, is a third tract of 
almost uninhabited country, extending about seventy 
leagues from north to south, nearly covered with 
superb forests, and abounding with lands of excellent 
quality, especially on the rivers, which descend from 
the snow mountains into the Cienaga or lake. The 
river Magdalena forms its western boundary. The 
few villages and farms scattered over it, though not 
numerous enough to impede fresh settlements, are 
sufficient to afford them such aid as their infant state 
necessarily requires. 

" The province of Cartagena contains excellent 
lands, especially on the banks of the Magdalena. 
There is, however, one spot which peculiarly claims 
attention : this is the port of Savanilla, at the mouth 
of the Magdalena. The lands here are finely tim- 
bered, and the temperature is refreshed by strong 
breezes ; but the principal advantage consists in its 
being the natural port of the Magdalena, in which 
capacity there is little doubt it will one day become 
the emporium of the whole trade of the interior, 
though it is closed at present by order of the Govern- 
ment, for the purpose of favouring Santa Marta, 
which would be abandoned, should the commerce be 
left to its natural channel; the communication be- 
tween the latter and the river being troublesome and 
circuitous, through the canals which unite with the 
Cienaga, whereas Savanilla is the mouth of the river 
itself. Its chief defect as a port is, the shallowness 



296 



COLOMBIA. 



of the river immediately above it, which is caused by 
the number of mouths through which the Magdalena 
discharges itself into the ocean. Even flat boats 
have, in the dry season, some difficulty in ascending 
from Savanilla to Barranquilla, It is probable, this 
defect might be remedied, by closing up the mouth 
called Boca Vieja ; but the country is not, at present, 
ripe for such an undertaking." While the Author 
of Letters from Colombia was at Bogota, the project 
of building a town at Savanilla, and making it a free 
port, was before the Congress ; but " strong interest 
was opposed to the measure." If carried into effect, 
he says, it will most materially injure both Santa 
Marta and Cartagena, but it will prove at the same 
time a general benefit to the interior. The main 
trade had lately been carried on from Santa Marta, on 
account of the facilities it afforded to the contraband 
trade ; but, since the Colombian Government has 
organised its custom-house system, the people of the 
interior are less inclined to go there, and it is thought 
that Cartagena will eventually become the preferable 
port. 

SANTA MARTA. 

Captain Charles Stuart Cochrane, who visited 
Colombia in 1823-4, landed at Santa Marta: — -he 
thus describes the port. " The bay is small, and best 
adapted to the reception of merchant vessels of light 
draught of water, which are moored head and stern 
close in shore, with one anchor from the stern to the 
beach. Larger ships are much exposed to N.E. 
winds, by which they have sometimes been blown out 
through the passage between the castle and the island 
of the Mow. The castle is admirably situated for the 
defence of the bay, being on the summit of an almost 



COLOMBIA. 297 

perpendicular insulated rock, above the angle at which 
a ship's guns could have much effect : it commands 
the town and the entrance to the harbour. Its im- 
portance seems, however, not to have been duly 
appreciated by the natives, as they have. only a few 
guns mounted ; and they abandoned it when attacked by 
the Indians a few months before my arrival, although it 
might have defended the town as long as its provisions 
and water lasted. There is a small battery on the 
level of the sea, in front of the town, mounted with 
five guns : another formerly existed at the N.W. 
extremity of the bay, but is now dismantled. The 
appearance of the town, as seen from a vessel standing 
into the bay, is neat and pretty, the houses being 
white-washed and, in general, covered with red tiles. 
To the eastward is a range of hills, steep and of 
conical form. The wind rushes with great violence 
through the intervals between them into the bay, and 
thus contributes to its insecurity. The town pre- 
sented the most deplorable scenes of ruin. The In- 
dians, who had kept possession of the place for three 
weeks, until General Montilla came down and retook 
it, had committed every species of wanton mischief, 
and had literally torn the place to pieces. The popu- 
lation, which formerly amounted to 8,000, is now 
reduced to a few hundreds, and the once flourishing 
commerce of the place has been annihilated."* 

* Cochrane's Travels, vol. i. pp. 55—9. The Author of Letters 
from Colombia, who was at Santa Marta in July 1823 (a few 
months later), states the population at between 4 and 5,000 souls. 
The causes of its decline which he assigns are, the desolation pro- 
duced by the war, and the number of families banished for their 
adherence to the Spanish cause. " Now," he adds, " there are 
not above a dozen merchants of any note in the place, and the 
business carried on is comparatively trifling." This looks, how- 
ever, as if the state of things was improving. 

s 2 



298 



COLOMBIA. 



The city of Santa Marta was founded in 1525, and 
was made an episcopal city four years afterward. 
The bishopric was suppressed by Paul IV. in 1562, 
but re-established by his successor in 1577- The 
place was repeatedly sacked by foreign pirates during 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The last 
time, Alcedo says, was in 1672, by an English and a 
French privateer, when the town was completely pil- 
laged, and they had the wickedness to cam' off the 
bishop. Latterly, however, it had risen into con- 
siderable importance as a commercial city, enjoying 
almost the exclusive importation of manufactures for 
the capital. The town contains some good houses. 
The cathedral is a very conspicuous object in the 
approach both by land and sea, but neither its archi- 
tecture nor its internal decoration is deserving of 
notice. The Franciscans and the Dominicans had 
each a convent here. This city has one advantage 
over Cartagena, in being supplied with an abundance 
of sweet water from the River Gaira, which flows 
near the city. Alcedo states, that it enjoys a salu- 
brious temperature, less hot than that of Cartagena ; 
but the Author of Letters from Colombia, who was 
there in the month of July, complains of the excessive 
heat of the place, which, he says, is seldom below 90 % 
and prevents your stirring about by day. " The only 
recreations," he states, u are bathing morning and 
evening, and walking either on the beach or in ex- 
tensive labyrinths of wood at the back of the town, 
which are cool and agreeable, but harbour a great 
variety and abundance of snakes. They extend for 
some miles in an easterly direction, and are ter- 
minated by mountains of a great elevation, which 
gradually rise till they attain the height of 16,41C* 
feet above the level of the sea, the elevation of the 



COLOMBIA. 



299 



nevado. These form a back -ground to the town, all 
of them clothed with fine timber or brush-wood. 
The intermediate flat is interspersed with numerous 
rosas, or quintas, where fruits and vegetables are 
grown to supply the market ; but, as they belong 
chiefly to poor people, few of them are in any kind of 
order. On ascending the head-land which protects 
the harbour from northerly winds, on the one side is a 
highly picturesque and panoramic view of the town 
and bay ; on the other, a great extent of ocean, with 
the bold coast of Terra Firma stretching to wind- 
ward. We used very much to enjoy the breezes on 
this spot, it being many degrees cooler than the town. 
Within a league of the city, are some natural salt- 
pits, from which salt is obtained in sufficient quanti- 
ties to render it capable of being made an important 
article of trade. Silver, also, is said to have been 
found in the vicinity, and a mine of lead has been 
discovered under the citadel. Some particles of this, 
or some other metal, are sometimes found mixed with 
the fine sand of the beach. At the village of Ocana, 
220 miles S. of Santa Marta, copper ores are found ; 
but the mines in this province are either of little 
importance, or have hitherto received very inadequate 
attention. 

From the port of Santa Marta, it is a distance 
6f seven or eight leagues along the coast to the 
Cienega (the lake),* near which is the Indian vil- 
lage of Pueblo Vie jo, whence there is a water-com- 
munication, through a succession of lakes and canals, 
to the villages of Barranquilla and Solidad. These two 

* The lagoon, or cienega, of Santa Marta, has a communication 
with the sea by a channel sometimes navigable for canoes. These 
lagoons are navigated by canoes, and are so shallow, that, though 
drawing only two feet water, the canoes sometimes ground* 



300 



COLOMBIA. 



places, situated on navigable canals communicating' 
-with the Magdalena, are depots for goods brought 
from Santa Marta to be conveyed up the river. Soli- 
dad is a place of considerable extent, built of sun- 
dried clay, containing nearly 2,000 inhabitants. The 
exports consist chiefly of cotton, which is exchanged 
for Osnaburg shirting, Russia duck, hard-w r are, &c. 
The heat is almost intolerable by day. Here, on the 
3d of April, Captain Cochrane embarked for Honda. 
There is a tolerable road, mostly through thick palm 
forests, from Barranquilla to Barranca ; but, beyond 
the latter place, there is no tolerable route by land.* 

VOYAGE UP THE MAGDALENA. 

The only craft employed on the Magdalena, are 
piraguas and champans. The former are, in general, 
employed by travellers who have not much baggage, 
and by the government-couriers : they are merely 
trees hollowed out with an axe. A piragua from six- 
teen to twenty varas in length, costs 200 dollars. 
Those which are engaged at Barranca or at Santa 
Marta, do not ascend higher than Monpox, a distance 
of forty-six leagues and a half from the former town, 
which occupies from three to five days ; and more than 
t wenty are required to go from Monpox to Honda. It is 
not at all uncommon, indeed, we are told, after the rainy 
season, to be delayed from fifty to sixty days in navi- 
gating from Santa Marta to Honda, owing to the 
violence of the current ; whereas, in descending the 

* The route from Barranquilla to Barranca Is given by Col. 
Hall. The distance is twenty-five leagues and a half. At three 
leagues from Barranquilla, the road separates to Cartagena, distant 
thirty-four leagues. The next five leagues are over a level tract, 
which is subject to inundation in winter. 



COLOMBIA* 



301 



river, the post generally reaches the coast in seven 
days. Champans, which are employed in the convey- 
ance of merchandise, are flat-bottomed boats, about 
the size of the fruit-boats used on the Seine, covered 
in with bamboos to preserve the cargoes from rain : 
this roof serves also as a deck for the bogas, or boat- 
men, on which they place themselves to push along 
the boat with their poles. A champan usually carries 
a hundred loads {car gas = 10 arrobas, or 250 lb.), the 
freight of which, from Monpox to Honda, is nine or 
ten dollars per load. Down the river, the freight is 
only a dollar and a half. The crew of a champan 
consists of twenty-four bogas, at the rate of 20 dol- 
lars each, besides their " keep" and the hire of the 
boat, which is about four dollars a day. These bogas 
are represented as the very refuse of the population, 
— a mixture of individuals of every colour, who have 
retained nothing but the vices of their respective 
castes, and who, when dissatisfied with their pas- 
senger, have been known to abandon him on the 
shore, and take to the woods. This tedious, expen- 
sive, and inconvenient mode of navigation will be soon 
superseded, should it be found practicable to realise 
the project of establishing steam -vessels on the Mag- 
dalena. This wonderful invention is probably des- 
tined to accelerate, to an incalculable degree, the cul- 
tivation and civilisation both of the provinces of the 
Cordillera, and those of the vast plains of the 
Orinoco.* The navigation will not only be less 

* The English, M. Mcllien says, have entreated a license for ten 
years, to establish steam-boats both on the Orinoco and the Sulia. 
The Orinoco presents the double advantage of having a wide and 
deep stream, and of discharging its waters into the Atlantic. 
" Who knows," exclaims this Traveller, " if even the Orinoco 



302 



COLOMBIA. 



tedious and precarious, but the inconveniences will be 
not a little alleviated by the comforts which will, by 
this means, be placed within the reach of the Euro* 
pean traveller. The following is the equipment for 
the voyage recommended by Captain Cochrane a 
small portable bedstead, with a toldo or covering of 
strong linen, to keep out the mosquitoes and sand- 
flies, — price, at Solidad, fifteen dollars; pillows, 
sheets, and blankets should be brought from Europe ; 
two or three dresses of Holland sheeting, with footing 
of the same material, instead of stockings ; shoes of 
strong Holland, with leather soles, and a pair of Eng- 
lish shooting-shoes for landing in the mud ; two 
broad-brimmed straw hats ; a saddle with holsters ; a 
sword, a dirk, and a pair of pocket pistols ; two good 
mats, 2 — one to lie on in the canoe, the other fitted to 
the sacking of the bed, to prevent the mosquitoes 
from penetrating it at night ; cooking utensils — e. g. 
a large copper chocolate-pot, a copper vessel for making 
soup, ditto for stews, ditto for frying eggs, two block- 
tin plates, three dishes, two tin cups for drinking, and 
a small tin measure for serving out spirits to the 
bogas, who will not work well without a dram every 
morning of the anise of the country, of which a jar or 
two must be provided; item, knives, forks, spoons, 
and small duck table-cloths ; item, " all wine, tea, 
coffee, chocolate, sugar, salt, dried beef, hams, 
tongues, live fowls, eggs, biscuits, torcitio, Or cured 
pork-fat, for frying eggs, and plantains and dried 
salt meat for the bogas." Some of these articles, our 
French Traveller, who had explored the shores of the 

shall not one day be the only means of communication between 
the ocean and the cordillera ?" The navigation of the Atrato is 
also likely to prove of high importance. 



COLOMBIA. 



303 



Senegal, does not appear to have found indispensably 
necessary; but Captain Cochrane is writing for Eng- 
lishmen, who, as well as the bogas, must eat. " Our 
ordinary repast," he says, " consisted of bread, soup, 
fried eggs, and sausages. At each place, for a quarter- 
dollar, we procured a female cook, which relieved us 
from all trouble on that score." 

Ten leagues is reckoned, in ascending the river, a 
" good day's journey." At noon on the eighth day, 
the city of Monpox appeared in sight, pleasantly situ- 
ated on the left bank of the river. At a distance, the 
white houses with their red roofs have a neat and 
clean appearance ; but, on a nearer approach, this is 
exchanged for the general distressed look of Spanish 
cities. The town is above a mile in length ; the 
streets are of a good breadth, crossing each other 
at right angles, and some are even furnished with 
foot-ways. The only decent -looking houses, however, 
are in the centre of the place, the rest being mere 
sheds. The population is about 10,000 souls.* " It 
formerly contained 18,000 ; but the miseries of an 
exterminating civil war have reduced the inhabitants 
to the present number." The country surrounding 
the city is entirely in a state of nature. Captain 
Cochrane could not discover a cultivated spot near the 
place. All is rich and luxuriant, but not through the 
labour of man. The chief exports are corn, hides, 
and Brazil-wood, in return for which are taken 
European commodities. Pamplona and Cuenta trans- 
mit some tobacco, sugar, and chocolate, to this entre- 
pot ; Antioquia sends her gold, and Bogota, the 
produce of the Upper Magdalena. Were the expenses 

* Including the neighbouring villages, the Author of Letters 
from Colombia says, it is estimated at 15,000. 



304 



COLOMBIA. 



attending the transmission of merchandise lessened, 
this place would most probably recover, in a very 
short time, its commercial importance. It is, at pre- 
sent, the grand rendezvous of the bogas, whose num- 
bers on the banks of the river amount to nearly 
1 0,000. This part of the population, it will be of no 
small advantage to the place to disperse, should steam- 
boats be introduced. But nothing can make Monpox 
a desirable residence. " The climate," says M. Mol- 
lien, is burning, the thermometer ranging from 25° to 
30° (of Reaumur) ; * the inhabitants consequently 
pass the evenings seated in the streets, to breathe the 
fresh air, and to escape the stings of the mosquitoes. 
The sky is constantly cloudy, and scarcely a day 
passes without showers. The nights, on the con- 
trary, are beautifully clear and truly delicious. It is 
then a great pleasure to promenade the streets, and 
observe the lively parties which present themselves 
before the doors of the houses. Loud bursts of laugh- 
ter are heard on every side, in which the passenger 
takes part without the least ceremony. Far from 
this familiarity being offensive, it gives great satisfac- 
tion, for the frankest cordiality presides at these 
meetings. Thus passes the life of the inhabitants of 
Monpox. The day is spent in their hammocks, the 
night in the street ; and nothing would trouble their 
peaceable existence, were they not afflicted with 
goitres, which disfigure them in a horrible manner. 
Without this infirmity, which usually attacks them at 
the age of thirty or forty, they would possess an 
agreeable figure, though, indeed, with less lively ex- 
pression than the inhabitants of Cartagena, and with 

* Captain Cochrane says. f< the thermometer in the shade was, 
cn the average, at JX!°." 



COLOMBIA. 



303 



less of that soft -coloured tint which distinguishes the 
natives of Bogota. The manner of living of the 
people of Monpox, differs little from that which the 
inhabitants of the iierras calientes of South America 
have adopted. All classes have a destructive fondness 
for ardent spirits." The town is surrounded with 
swamps, and is liable to inundations. In 1762, the 
inhabitants were obliged to desert their houses, and 
take to their canoes. Alligators come up to the very- 
banks, to feed on the offal thrown from the city. 
Several gun-boats are stationed here for the protection 
of the navigation.* 

From about a mile and a half above Monpox, to the 
village of Santa Margarita, distant five leagues, the 
country is tolerably well cultivated for a tract about 
200 yards in breadth, and the shore is bordered with 
orange and lemon-trees. The villages have a pretty 
effect, embowered in trees, and give the river a more 
cheerful aspect. At Pinon, the mountains of the 
interior, which the traveller is now approaching, add 
a new feature to the scenery. Considerable difficulty 
is now found in poling along the shore, as the depth 
of the water increases, and, frequently, the bogas are 
obliged to lay the poles in and haul along by the trees. 
In passing the rapids, some of the men have to land 

* We give the following distances from Col. Hall's volume : 



Leagues. 

From Barranca — 



To Barranca Vieja l£ 

— Yucal 1 

— Tenerife 10 

— Plato • • 4 

— Sambrano 1 

— Tacamuche 9 



26% 



Leagues. 
Brought forward 26£ 



To Pinto 2 

— Santa Ana 9 

— San Fernando 2 

— San Zenon 2 

— - Monpox 5 



46£ 



306 



COLOMBIA. 



and haul the canoe by a hawser, while others remain 
to pole, and keep her head from being carried out by 
the stream. " If once the stream is allowed to catch 
the head of the canoe, it will be turned round, huri-ied 
into the midst of the current, where no pole will reach 
the ground, and rapidly carried down the stream a 
considerable distance, before the oar can be got out to 
enable it to regain the bank." At sunset, it is cus- 
tomary to moor the canoe for the night. The third 
day, the traveller may reach Rio Vie jo ; the fourth 
day, Morales, where it is usual to allow the men 
a day's rest. This is a miserable place, but well situ- 
ated upon an island shaded with cocoa-palms : the neigh- 
bouring country produces a large quantity of palm 
wine. The climate here is more approaching to tem- 
perate than at Monpox, but still, the air is most 
oppressive, and the mosquitoes extremely troublesome. 
Beyond Badillo, the boundary of the departments of 
Magdalena and Cundinamarca, the shores begin to 
exhibit occasionally signs of cultivation ; bananas and 
cocoa-plantations are now to be seen, and the number 
of alligators begins to diminish.* At San Pablo, a 

* " Nothing so much bespeaks the inadequate population of 
this country, as the neglected and wild state of so desirable 
a tract of land as that watered by the Magdalena, capable of 
growing the most valuable produce, and with every facility for 
its exportation. In the space of some hundred miles that I have 
now descended (from Honda to Badillo), there are probably not. 
more than thirty isolated and poor hats, none of which have above 
an acre of cleared land, over and above a few small villages." — 
Letters from Colornbia, p. 190. The unhealthiness of these shores 
may perhaps in part account, yet not altogether, for their being 
abandoned to the wretched population who are found here, con- 
sisting of " bogas advanced in years, and weary of navigating the 
river, some enfranchised slaves, and deserters, of all races, or 
rather of all colours." These people, says M. Mollien, are very 
poor and wretched : " out of the ten plagues of Egypt, they have 



COLOMBIA. 



307 



clean-looking village on a gravelly soil, it is necessary 
to purchase provision for four days, as there is no 
other market between this point and San Bartolome. 
The Travellers found every thing here double the price 
it bore at Morales, and were informed, that as they 
proceeded, provisions would increase in cost. From 
San Bartolome, a bad road leads to the province of 
Antioquia. Near this place, the stream of the Mag- 
dalena is darkened by the muddy and fetid waters of 
a tributary river. * A little further is the promontory 
of Remolino Grande^ which, when the waters are low, 
is doubled with difficulty, owing to the violence of 
the current. The clwro or rapid of Angostura is also 
very dangerous when the river is either very high or 
very low, the current then forming several deep whirl- 
pools. The rock is very lofty, and projects so far 
into the river as to narrow it considerably. A short 
distance higher up stands the town of Narie, the most 
frequented port of Antioquia, and a sort of entrepot 
for the produce of the western cordillera, which is 
brought down by the river Juntas. Like most other 
places, Narie has suffered much from the war, and is 
almost desolate. No other place worthy of notice 
occurs, till, having passed the mouth of the river Miel, 
whose limpid waters contrast with the muddy stream 
of the Magdalena, and, some leagues further, that of 
the Rio Negro issuing from the mountains of Zipa- 
quira, the traveller reaches the hamlet of Guarumo. 

at least five,— putrid water, ulcers, reptiles, large flies, and the 
death of their first-born, for, in fact, they rear their children with 
great difficulty." 

* «' We here procured," says Capt. Cochrane, " a branch of the 
shrub called alumbre, by putting about eight inches of the stem of 
which into water, it causes all the mud and earth held in solution 
to sink to the bottom, and leaves the w ater sweet and clear." 



308 



COLOMBIA. 



Prom this place, a new road was being made to Bo* 
gota, which, will be of great advantage to the com- 
merce of the country: " it is a better line of direction 
than the present road from Honda, and can be per- 
formed in the same time, thereby saving water-car- 
riage of two or three days." The river, beyond 
Guarumo, becomes much narrower, and is filled with 
stones that roll from the tops of the mountains. 
Choked up between rocky heights, it impetuously 
pours forth its waters through the narrow channel it 
has opened for itself ; and it would be impossible for 
the piraguas to stem the force of the current, were it 
not for the numerous angles formed by the projecting 
arms of the cordillera. At length, on the thirty-first 
day from Monpox, Capt. Cochrane landed at Honda. 
The distance is 115 leagues, which, in descending 
the river, may easily be accomplished in six days. 
By means of steam-boats, working day and night, 
the whole course of navigation upward from Barranca 
to Honda, might probably be effected in eight or nine 
days. " To persons navigating this river in a con- 
veniently rigged vessel," says the Author of Letters 
from "Colombia, " and so as to be protected from the 
heat of the sun, the voyage would be interesting and 
delightful beyond description, as its course is con- 
tinually serpentining either through high chains of 
mountains, rocky passes, or the most luxuriant 
woods." Sometimes, the river assumes the aspect of 
a large lake, bordered with forest-trees. These forests 
abound with a variety of birds of beautiful plumage, 
with wild turkeys, guacharacas (the American phea- 
sant), flamingoes, herons, parrots, macaws, and 
smaller birds, together with hordes of monkeys, who 
make a constant uproar with their howlings. Jaguars 
also are numerous, and they are formidable enemies 



COLOMBIA. 



309 



to the alligators, whom they frequently surprise asleep 
on the banks. If a young alligator, he is sure to fall 
a victim : the larger ones sometimes succeed in run- 
ning with their antagonist into the river, where he is 
conquered by the numbers by whom he is immediately 
surrounded. Another inhabitant of this magnificent 
river is the turtle, which, as well as its eggs, is preyed 
upon both by the cayman and the jaguar. 

Honda is prettily situated on rising ground enclosed 
by mountains. It was formerly flourishing, but was 
almost destroyed by the earthquake, and the civil 
war has greatly diminished its commerce. The con- 
vents (Alcedo enumerates four) and churches are now 
in a dilapidated state ; and the population, which is 
said to have amounted to 10,000, now scarcely exceeds 
3,000 persons. The temperature is very hot, but not 
unhealthy. A custom-house is established here. All 
large boats stop at the bodegas, or warehouses, on 
either bank, half a mile from the town, to avoid pass- 
ing the mouth of the Guale, a foaming torrent which 
rushes down the neighbouring mountains of Mari- 
quita to join the Magdalena in the centre of the town. 
This torrent is crossed by a wooden bridge of one 
arch, boldly constructed on fragments of rock which 
serve as piers, but now in a very precarious state. 

The distance from Honda to Bogota, is reckoned 
twenty-two leagues : it is a four days' journey. The 
worst parts of the road from Caracas to Bogota, can- 
not, we are told, compete in difficulty with the passes 
which occur in this high road to the capital, the most 
frequented, probably, in the country. It can scarcely 
indeed be called a road, being more like the bed of a 
mountain torrent. " You have every moment to 
climb rocks, many of which the mule can hardly reach 
with her fore-feet.'" On the summit of the Sarjento, 



310 



COLOMBIA. 



is an inscription, stating the elevation which the tra- 
veller has gained, to be 860 toises X5,160 feet) above 
the sea, and the distance from Bogota eighteen 
leagues. The descent to the picturesque valley of 
Ouaduas is in some places equally difficult. This 
place, situated about 3,800 feet above the sea, enjoys 
a mild and salubrious temperature, and is famed for 
its excellent water. It is styled by Captain Cochrane, 
the Cheltenham of Bogota, being visited by the citi- 
zens of the capital for the benefit of their health. A 
manufactory of straw hats is carried on here, and a 
fine breed of horses and mules is reared in the neigh- 
bouring pastures. Rice, bananas, coffee, sugar, and 
oranges are grown in this district.* The steep sum- 
mit of the Alto del Trigo has next to be surmounted 
by a zig-zag road, which has been paved, but is now 
out of repair : the descent conducts the traveller to 
the town and plain of Villietas. The paramo of 
Cerradera is an ascent not less difficult : from its 
summit, the traveller has the satisfaction of looking 
down on the plains of Bogota. The venta at the foot 
of the paramo is nine leagues from the capital, and 
about 7 ? 500 feet above the level of the sea. Two 
leagues further is the small town of Facatativa, a day's 
journey of seven leagues (M. Mollien says, above ten 
French leagues) from the capital. The road now lies 
along a plain for the most part bare, and entirely 
level; in many places frequently inundated. At a 
distance of about twelve miles is gained the first 
glimpse of the capital. The white towers of the 
cathedral and the monasteries of Montserrat and Gua- 
dalupe, seated on lofty peaks in the back-ground, are 

* " At the distance of three days' journey from Guaduas, is 
Palma, a village containing gold, iron, and emerald mines, which 
it is intended to work."— Mollien, p. 61. 



COLOMBIA. 



311 



first discerned. Being built on rising ground, the 
city forms a sort of amphitheatre. The ascent to it 
is by an alameda or public walk, which was formerly 
beautifully planted, but the trees were cut down 
during the revolutionary contest. Altogether, the 
first appearance of Bogota is very imposing, and 
worthy of the capital of the Colombian Republic* 

BOGOTA. 

The city of Bogota (its former dedicatory title of 
Santa Fe is suppressed) was founded by Gonzalo 
Ximenes de Quesada, who, in 1538, built twelve huts, 
in honour of the twelve apostles, on the skirts of the 
two mountains which now bear the names of Mont- 
serrat and Guadalupe. It is situated on an ele- 
vated plateau 8,615 feet above the level of the sea, 
in lat. 4° 10' N., long. 73° 50' W., at the base of 
mountains towering nearly 17,000 feet above the 
sea. It was created a city, and made the seat of a 
royal audiencia, in 1548. In 1561, it was advanced 
to the honours of a metropolitan see. It was the 
capital of the kingdom of New Granada, and the resi- 
dence of the viceroy. From its extreme boundaries, it 
extends about a mile in length, and, in the widest part, 
about half a mile in breadth, the ends tapering off 
to a single line of houses. The streets are generally 
narrow, but regular ; all of them are paved, and the 
principal ones have foot-paths. " When seen from 

* '« The most important town of Colombia," says M. Mollien, 
<' is Panama; the best fortified, Cartagena; the most agreeable, 
Santa F£ (Bogota) ; the best built, Popayan ; the richest, Guaya- 
quil; the most lively, Zipaquira; the best situated, Maracaybo. 
Caracas is said to have eclipsed them all, but Caracas is now in 
ruins. Quito is, by all accounts, more populous than any." 



312 



COLOMBIA. 



the mountains at the back, the city has a very pretty 
effect. The streets, built at right angles, present an 
appearance of great regularity, and have a stream of 
water constantly flowing down the middle ; there are 
also several handsome public fountains. Great as is 
the extent of the city, the churches and convents 
cover nearly one-half of the ground. Many of the 
convents are in part, and others wholly deserted 
since the Revolution. The ground that some of them 
cover is immense." There are nine monasteries and 
three nunneries ; those of the Dominicans and of San 
Juan de Dios are the best endowed. Four-sixths 
of the houses in the city are said to belong to them. 
" The architects of Santa Fe," says M. Moliien, 
" have an excuse to justify the deformity of their 
edifices in the nature of the soil, which, being so fre- 
quently convulsed by earthquakes, compels them to 
sacrifice elegance and majesty to solidity. Thus it is, 
that the houses are so low, although the walls are 
prodigiously thick. The public buildings are also 
obliged to have enormous foundations, and the shafts 
of the columns of the churches are less in proportion 
to the weight they have to sustain, than to the shocks 
which they are required to resist. 

" The architecture of some, however, is in a purer 
style. The cathedral in particular, erected in 1814, 
is remarkable for the simplicity of its interior, 
redeeming, in some degree, the bad taste to which its 
facade is indebted for an accumulation of lines pro- 
duced without harmony, and intersecting each other 
without the least symmetry. 

" The other churches of Bogota, to the number of 
twenty-six, are, on the contrary, resplendent with 
gold ; no temple of the Incas was ever so dazzling. 
But, although the magnificence of the cathedral itself 



COLOMBIA. 



313 



is not so great, the treasures it possesses are more 
valuable. One statue of the Virgin alone, out of the 
many which adorn the altars, is ornamented with 
1,358 diamonds, 1,295 emeralds, 59 amethysts, one 
topaz, one hyacinth, 372 pearls, and its pedestal is 
enriched with 609 amethysts : the artist was paid 
4,000 piastres for his labours." 

Some of the convents have hospitals dependent upon 
them, but they are in a most loathsome and dis- 
gusting state. There are three colleges, which are 
conducted in a superior manner : the principal one is 
that of the Jesuits, in which the majority of the pro- 
fessors are monks, a few only being laymen. The 
pupils are instructed in Latin, mathematics, natural 
and moral philosophy, and divinity. " Besides these, 
there is now forming a school of mineralogy, under 
the auspices of Dr. Mariano di Rivero, a most sen- 
sible, scientific, and clever man, a native of Peru, 
educated in the schools of England, France, and Ger- 
many, and recommended by Baron Humboldt to the 
Government. This gentleman, who is particularly 
skilled in the practical knowledge of the best methods 
of mining in all its branches, is also founding a 
national museum, which has, under his hands, made 
considerable progress, and for which he has travelled 
to increase the collection already amassed: out of 
the 4,000 dollars per annum allowed him by the 
Government, he has generously resigned 1,000 to aug- 
ment the funds of the museum. They have estab- 
lished here a Lancastrian school on the most liberal 
principles, for which the natives are principally in- 
debted to the praiseworthy exertions of the vice-presi- 
dent, General Santander, through whose strenuous 
endeavours to put in force the commands of the Con- 
gress, these schools have been established not only in 

PART IT. T 



314 



COLOMBIA. 



the capital, but in the most remote villages of the 
republic. 

" It might be imagined," says M. Mollien, " from 
the pompous title of palace, given to the ancient resi- 
dence of the viceroys, which is now occupied by the 
president of the republic, that a sumptuous edifice 
would present itself; it is, however, nothing more 
than a house with a flat roof: two adjoining ones, 
much lower, ornamented with galleries, together with 
the prison, constitute the whole of its dependencies ; 
here are also the offices of the ministers of state. 
Upon entering the palace, stair-cases without the least 
pretensions to elegance, and galleries equally devoid of 
taste, present themselves ; no hall leads into the pre- 
sence-chamber : it is entered either from the presi- 
dent's bed-room, or from a small anti-chamber. A 
few sofas covered with red damask, a worn-out Segovia 
carpet, some lamps suspended from the cross beams , 
which, for want of a ceiling, give this part of the saloon 
the appearance of a barn, would make it difficult to 
conceive of its being a palace, were not the apartment 
decorated with a throne covered with red damask, a 
few looking-glasses, glazed windows, and some wretched 
paintings. The idea of regality is still further in- 
creased by a troop of twenty hussars guarding the 
avenues : these, notwithstanding their want of boots 
and horses, and the wretched plight of their uniforms, 
give the stranger a hint that he is within the precincts 
of royalty. 

" The place dignified with the name of the palace 
of the deputies, is nothing but a large house, situated 
at the corner of a street, the ground-floor of which is 
let out in shops for the selling of brandy. The first 
objects which attract attention upon ascending the 
stair-case, are two Fames painted upon the wall, at 



COLOMBIA. 



315 



the foot of which is this inscription : 6 No country 
without laws.' Having gained the inner gallery, the 
noise which escapes through a small door, indicates it 
to the visiter to be that of the hall of assembly. This 
consists of a long and narrow room, in the middle 
of which has been erected a wooden balustrade, upon 
which the spectators lean ; for no one is seated but 
the representatives, who are economically placed upon 
arm-chairs made of polished wood, with leather bot- 
toms, ranged in long rows : within the balustrade, 
eight chandeliers, glazed windows, and a matting, 
compose the decorations of the palace of deputies. 

" Upon quitting this, it is only necessary to cross 
the street to enter the palace of the senate, which is, 
perhaps, still more simple than that of the repre- 
sentatives. The Dominicans having granted this 
body one of the wings of their convent, it was fitted 
up in a similar manner to the hall of the deputies ; the 
walls are, however, ornamented with emblematical 
figures. Under one of these, which represents Justice, 
the ignorant painter has written Policy. There is 
neither salle de reception, hall, nor ante-chamber ; 
and when the ministers attend to make any commu- 
nication, they are obliged to wait upon the staircase 
till the usher of the house, who is at the same time 
manager of the theatre, comes to disengage them of 
their umbrella, and invite them to enter. 

" In their places of confinement, the Spanish Ameri- 
cans have established a system of excessive indulgence. 
The prisons are on the ground -floor, and the windows 
are sufficiently low to allow the passers-by to converse 
with those incarcerated: as to state prisoners, they ar« 
treated with greater severity." * 



* Mollien, pp. 194— & 



316 



COLOMBIA. 



u The mint is a large, plain building. In conse- 
quence of the mistaken policy of the Government, in 
giving merely a debenture for the uncoined gold 
brought to them by the natives, instead of returning, 
as in former times, a proportionate quantity of coined 
metal, the machinery, &c, of this place is at a stand- 
still, and its treasury entirely exhausted. If, as for- 
merly, they gave their coined gold for the gold dust 
brought to them, they would soon form a rich treasury 
from the quantities that would be produced by the . 
people ; who now keep back their gold, and, conse- 
quently, can only dispose of it at a very great loss, or else 
keep it in hand, which prevents them from hiring more 
negroes to work their mines, or even to support those 
they have. In fact, this measure paralyzes every 
branch of the state, inasmuch as it gives a check 
to industry, and creates mistrust. 

" There are three sets of barracks, formed from 
the old and forsaken monasteries ; and two quartels ; 
one for the militia in the grand plaza on the left of 
the cathedral, the other in the square of San Fran- 
cisco, for the president's body-guard when off duty. 
There is a rnestranza, or artillery depot, where all 
military furniture and equipments are made, but in a 
style which would be much benefited by the aid of 
European workmen to direct and improve the whole. 
This is the only place in Bogota where any repairs 
can be done to articles of European fabric. 

" The theatre is a well-constructed building, and 
its interior arrangements are better than might be 
expected : it is not difficult to hear in any part of it. 
The boxes are all let to families ; but, for two reals, 
you gain admission to the pit, which is half covered 
with chairs, and the back part left for standing-room. 
The company is mixed, but orderly and well behaved. 



COLOMBIA. 



A soldier parades up and down during the perform- 
ance, but I never witnessed any opportunity for his 
interference. It is the custom to walk from the pit to 
the boxes, and chat with any parties you may know ; 
and all strangers of respectability pay their com- 
pliments during the evening to the vice-president. 
The performances are on feast-days only ; the actors 
are decidedly bad. Sometimes the students of the 
college perform, and, of course, attract a crowded 
audience. The natives are much attached to theatrical 
amusements.' ' * 

The principal streets are the Calle Real and the 
San Juan de Bios. The former has a footway on 
both sides of the road, and is well paved ; and, u as 
there are no carts or vehicles of any description^ the 
traffic being hitherto carried on exclusively by mules, 
it does not require frequent repair. The ground - 
floors of the houses are occupied by shops, with one 
story above, each habitation having a large wooden 
balcony, painted green." These two streets, which 
lead to the alameda, are the chief resorts of the 
loungers and fashionables of Bogota. The streets 
running east and west from the mountains, have 
streams of water flowing down them, which empty 
themselves into the small rivers of San Francisco and 
San Augustin, over which there are five bridges. At 
one extremity of the Calle Real, is the principal 

* Cochrane, vol. ii. pp. 20—22. 

t For this, there is an obvious reason : there is no passing in 
any vehicle more than a mile or two out of Bogota. " The vice- 
roy had formerly a carriage, but there is none now in the country, 
and only two gigs in the capital. There are, in the plains, a few 
clumsily contrived cars, with solid wheels, for carrying timber, but 
these can only be used from Facatativa to Bogota, and even there 
frequently stick fast in the mire." 

T 2 



318 



COLOMBIxV. 



plaza, where the daily market is held : one side is 
occupied by the cathedral, another by the palace of 
the president, &c. ; on the north side, are private 
houses with shops beneath, and on the south, are the 
quartet of the militia and the record-office. The 
market is well supplied with beef, mutton, and pork, 
poultry, some few vegetables, and fruits of every 
climate (they reckon thirty sorts), in considerable 
perfection.* European manufactures are sold, for the 
most part, at extravagant prices : the merchants ob- 
tain them from Jamaica. 

All the houses are low, in consequence of the appre- 
hension of earthquakes : they are built of sun-dried 
brick, white-washed, and covered with tiles. " As 
to the interior," says M. Mollien, " the houses are 
not better arranged than ours were at the time of the 
discovery of America. Windows, very small, and 
always barricadoed by large wooden bars, are seen by 
the side of others of an immense size ; the beams are 
rarely concealed by a ceiling ; the walls have enor- 
mous projections; the doors are of all heights; the 
use of locks is scarcely known : at least, those manufac- 
tured in the country afford but little security. The 
use of glazed windows is but of recent introduction ; 
a less barbarous taste is, however, observable in the 
construction of many modern habitations, and several 
improvements begin to appear. Light and convenient 
balconies have superseded the enormous heavy gal- 
leries ; the ceiling is no longer disagreeably inter- 
sected by beams ; the windows are without barri- 

* Beef is 3d. per pound; mutton Is. per quarter; a large chicken 
6c?. ; fruit, st , reasonable." For the unfurnished house he inhabited, 
Captain Cochrane paid at the rate of 300 dollars per annum. A hat 
is 16 dollars, a pair of boots the same; a coat of inferior cloth, 30 
dollars ; of superfine cloth, 60 dollars. 



COLOMBIA. 



319 



cadoes, the street-doors better painted : a general 
neatness is, indeed, being introduced through all 
classes. In general, two gates are to be passed before 
arriving in the court-yard. The entry which sepa- 
rates it from the street, is but too often a receptacle 
for the uncleanliness of the passengers. A gallery 
generally runs round the court, if the house consists 
only of a ground floor ; but if of two stories, a covered 
terrace. The staircase is generally of stone, and of 
very rude construction. On the wall of the first square 
is generally painted a giant, carrying in one hand a 
child, and in the other a ball ; this is St. Christopher, 
the household god of the country. Round the inner 
gallery is a long suite of rooms, which only receive day- 
light through the door. Every house has at least one 
saloon and an eating-room ; for it is considered un- 
polite to receive friends, or to entertain them, in a 
sleeping-room. The kitchen is always of an immense 
size, less on account of the quantity of provisions 
cooked, than the number of useless servants assembled 
there : there is no chimney, as stoves only are used. 
No houses are seen without carpets : the ancient straw 
mats of the Indians are no longer used by fashionable 
people, but are superseded by carpets of European 
manufacture. Both of these are designed, if there be 
no fire, to warm the apartments, and to conceal the 
inequalities of the floor, where, unfortunately, the 
negligence of the servants permits the most loathsome 
insects to swarm in immense numbers. Some persons 
cover the walls of their chambers with dyed paper ; 
and numbers have garlands of flowers and genii 
drawn upon it, in a style alike indicative of the bad 
taste of the painter and his employer. The furniture 
is simple, and usually consists of nothing more than 
two sofas covered with cotton, two small tables, a few 



320 



COLOMBIA. 



leathern chairs, after the fashion of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, a looking-glass, and three lamps suspended from 
the ceiling. The bed is tolerably well ornamented, 
but feathers are never used ; it is formed of two wool 
mattrasses. With some slight difference, all the 
houses resemble each other ; nothing serves to dis- 
tinguish those of the ministers, and it would be diffi- 
cult to recognise the president's, were it not for the 
guard at the entrance." 

" The shops are crowded together, dirty, and dark; 
the only admission for day-light is by the door. 
These, however, are places of resort for the idle. 
Seated upon his counter, smoking incessantly, and 
giving laconic answers to his customers, the Colom- 
bian merchant in many respects resembles those of 
Smyrna or Aleppo. Bogota cannot boast of ten mer- 
chants who can command 100,000 piastres, nor of five 
individuals living upon a revenue of that amount. 
The most common incomes are from 5 to 10,000 
piastres. Almost every inhabitant" (not in the em- 
ploy of government, in the church, or in the army) 
4 4 is a shopkeeper." 

The streets are very badly lighted. A paper lan- 
thorn, placed at the end of each quadra, just serves to 
render darkness visible. A proposal, however, has 
been laid before the Government by Colonel Manby, 
for lighting the city with gas. There is not a com- 
mon-sewer in the city. It was a saying of one of the 
viceroys, that Bogota had four police-officers to keep 
the town clean ; the gallinazos (carrion vultures), the 
rain, the asses, and the pigs. But the streams of 
fresh water which flow down the streets would cleanse 
them, M. Mollien says, still more efficaciously, " if, at 
eight o'clock in the evening, the idleness of the 
inhabitants did not convert them into filthy and 



COLOMBIA, 



321 



infectious sewers." In many of the streets, the grass 
has grown so plentifully, from the thinness of popula- 
tion, as to afford grazing ground to the stray cattle. 

u The costume of the people is remarkable, parti- 
cularly that of the females. There is no distinction 
between rich and poor in the style of walking-dress. 
The mantilla, black or light blue, made a la mode 
Espagnole, is worn ; a piece of blue cloth envelops 
the head, and frequently conceals the whole of the 
features except the eyes : this reaches to the waist, 
and the whole is surmounted with a broad-brimmed 
beaver hat. This is generally allowed to be a pre- 
posterous and unbecoming dress ; but, as yet, no 
fashionable lady has had the courage to set a new 
style for the example of her countrywomen. They 
are sedulously careful to deck their feet in the most 
becoming manner, and with studied coquetry, as they 
are in general well formed and extremely small. 
Their step is very peculiar, all from hip to ancle 
without bending the knee, and a sidling motion of the 
body. How far this adds to the grace of appearance 
and ease of deportment, I will leave to abler judges 
to decide. The lower classes are generally barefooted, 
except the peasantry of the plains, who wear alpar gates , 
a kind of Roman sandal, made of the fibres of a tree. 
They wear likewise a full, large mantle, called roana, 
or roqidlla^ made of the cloth of the country ; the 
head passes through a hole in the centre, and the 
roquilla falls loosely and gracefully over the shoulders, 
completely covering the body, and concealing the 
arms. The tout ensemble is elegant, as it droops in 
easy and becoming folds. Some of the females assume 
a very peculiar garb ; a petticoat of Spanish brown 
stuff, with a mantilla of white kerseymere, a black 



322 



COLOMBIA, 



beaver hat, and, round the waist, a broad, black, 
leathern girdle, one end of which hangs down from 
the hip nearly to the ancle. They are called beates y 
and attire themselves in this manner for many reasons, 
such as the commands of a confessor, the sickness of 
a husband, father, or any other relative ; but, by 
many, it is worn merely from the desire of attracting 
attention. 

" The Colombians have many repasts during the 
day. At seven in the morning, thev have chocolate ; 
at ten, a meal of soup, eggs, &c. ; they dine at two, 
take chocolate again at five, and sup at an early hour. 
From about three to half -past four, they take their 
siesta, during which time all the shops are shut, the 
streets deserted, and the whole city is in profound 
silence. Business is carried on from nine till half- 
past one, and from half-past four to half-past five. 
Every house has silver goblets, in which the water is 
handed round to the guests. Napkins are not used, 
and the table-linen is coarse. It is the custom to 
wash hands after dinner ; then smoking is introduced. 
The servants are generally females, very sluttish and 
dirty, of a race between the Indians and Mulattoes. 
There are very few male domestics, as all the able 
men were taken off for the supply of the armies. The 
emancipation of slaves has been very great at Bogota, 
and but few remain.'" * 

" Bogota is subject to a dreadful nuisance ; every 
Saturday, the poor rush into the town as if to take it 
by assault ; they besiege every door, and, to gain ad- 
mittance, endeavour to excite compassion by the ex- 
posure of the most revolting infirmities. Old men, led 



* Cochrane, vol. ii. pp. 35—38. 



COLOMBIA. 



323 



by children, form numerous groupes, which throughout 
the day obstruct the streets, and even block up the 
thresholds of the houses. 

" In the neighbourhood of Bogota are some very 
agreeable walks, which, although shaded by willows, 
and ornamented with rose-trees and the beautiful 
I cardamindum, are little frequented ; the preference 
I being given to a few select streets, the trottoirs of 
j which offer a commodious promenade, as from them 
gentlemen on horseback may be seen traversing the 
town at full gallop. The greater part of these horse- 
i men are bedizened with gold, and glittering in mili- 
tary uniforms ; some with round hats ornamented 
with plumes of feathers, others with cocked ones, and 
a still greater number wearing shakos and helmets. 
' Although their own appearance is upon the whole 
striking, that of their horses, which resemble Norman 
poneys, is so wretched as to lessen the effect con- 
siderably." 

The general routine of the day at Bogota, com- 
mences with mass, which is attended by females and 
old men. The men in general, we are told, do not 
give themselves much trouble on this score, unless 
they have some particular object in view, more attrac- 
tive than devotion. The greater part of the day, 
the ladies lounge on their sofas. At half-past five, 
they attend the alameda, whence they return to re- 
ceive visits till between nine and ten o'clock, at which 
hour they retire. Tertulias, or evening parties, balls, 
i masquerades, and the numerous religious processions, 
are their chief amusements. The number of saints' 
days and feast days, including Sundays, amounts to 
180 ; " but the Congress have it in consideration to 
reduce them as nearly as possible to the number of 
festivals celebrated in Protestant countries." 



324 



COLOMBIA. 



" Corpus Christi day is that which is celebrated 
with the greatest magnificence at Bogota ; it is an- 
nounced the preceding evening by artificial fire-works. 
At each corner of the grand square, through which 
the procession is to pass, are erected four richly orna- 
mented altars, while by a singular mixture of the 
sacred and profane, mats de cocagne, puppet-shows, 
and a great number of cages full of rare and curious 
animals, are ranged on all sides. The rejoicings and 
games cease the moment the bell is heard announcing 
the approach of the procession. Every one takes off 
his hat and kneels down in the streets. 

" At the head of the procession, are chariots 
dragged along by men ; in one is king David, with 
the head of Goliath in his hand ; in another, Esther ; 
in a third, Mordecai ; Joseph next makes his appear- 
ance upon a horse richly caparisoned, and followed by 
a great number of guards ; these, however, are only 
mounted on pasteboard chargers. All these personages f 
are the children of the principal inhabitants of the 
city. To obtain the honour of acting a part in this 
imposing spectacle, is a great desideratum ; and those 
who are honoured, by having their children nomi- 
nated, neglect no kind of expense : rivalling each 
other in splendour, they lay pearls, diamonds, eme- 
ralds, and rubies under contribution, and put their 
imagination to the rack, in order to render the dresses 
of the actors more magnificent. The clergy advance 
slowly amid the crowd of the faithful, with which the 
square is thronged. The most beautiful girls in the 
city walk between two rows of priests, some carrying 
the ark, and the show-bread, others incense or bas- 
kets of flowers. To these succeed young Indians, 
who, to the sound of a flute and tabor, perform wild 
fantastic dances. The procession is closed by a 



COLOMBIA. 325 

detachment of troops, with arms and colours re- 
versed." 

Bull-fights, cock-fights, the theatre, and gambling 
are the chief amusements of the gentlemen. 

u As far as I had an opportunity of judging," says 
the Author of Letters from Colombia, " Bogota is 
the most justly celebrated place in the whole Republic 
for beautiful women.* The change is the more strik- 
ing, after the hideous population one meets with in 
many of the towns and villages in the great extent of 
country between the two capitals. It is not from a 
few instances that one is led to form such an opinion, 
the majority of the female sex here being fairly en- 
titled to this reputation. From the coolness of the 
climate, their complexions are naturally fair and very 
clear. They inherit, at the same time, the fine, ex- 
pressive, dark eyes and regular features of the Spanish 
women, although partaking but in a slight degree of 
their elegant figures, owing to their careless manner 
of dressing and setting off their persons. They have, 
however, pretty feet, and an easy carriage. From the 
superiority of their personal appearance, there is the 
more reason to regret the absence of those endow- 
ments of mind, and that conduct, which alone render 
beauty permanently attractive. There are, perhaps, 
few cities, (it is to be hoped so, at least,) where the 

* Capt. Cochrane says : " The majority of the women are by no 
means handsome : they certainly have fine eyes and dark hair ; but 
neither features, complexion, nor figure are good, when compared 
with those of Europeans. Some few have, when young, a little 
bloom on their cheeks ; but, in general, a sallow or Moorish cast 
of face meets the eye. Occasionally, you do meet a young lady 
whose pretensions to beauty would be allowed even in Europe." 
The men, taken generally, he says, (S are far handsomer than the 
women, and their dark complexions are more agreeable to the 
eye. They are also better educated, being generally able to read 
and, write!" 

PART II. U 



326 



COLOMBIA. 



women are so generally depraved ; and although there 
are, no doubt, individuals of uncorrupted morals and 
virtuous conduct, it is too evident that their number 
is but small." Captain Cochrane expresses his appre- 
hension that morality in Colombia is at a low ebb. 
After marriage, the ladies of Bogota deem themselves 
for the most part entitled, especially if their husbands 
are out of the way, to act exactly as inclination 
prompts. He admits that exceptions exist, and that 
there are many highly respectable, virtuous, and 
honourable families. 

The capital is at present full of priests, monks, and 
clergy, in consequence of a decree abolishing all 
monasteries which did not contain above a certain 
number, and directing their inhabitants to reside in 
Bogota. This is considered as a stroke of policy, 
having for its object not merely to apply the revenues 
of the suppressed monasteries to the exigencies of the 
state, but to bring the clerical body more immediately 
under the eye of Government, and counteract the 
more easily their disposition to political intrigue. " It 
is not easy," M. Mollien says, " to say what are the 
political opinions of the inhabitants of Bogota. Like 
all those who reside in capitals, they are oppositionists, 
because they see the machine of government too near ; 
but, after having given the revolutionary impulse, 
this capital will, for the future, receive it from the 
provinces." 

The population of Bogota is said to have amounted, 
in 1800, to 21,464 inhabitants, " exclusive of strangers 
and beggars, whose residence was not known." The 
births exceeded the deaths in the same year by 247« 
The present population is estimated at from 30 to 
35,000 souls. There exists a difference of opinion as 
to the superior eligibility of the site of the two capi- 



COLOMBIA. 



327 



tals, Bogota and Caracas. The Author of Letters 
from Colombia gives his decided opinion in favour of 
the former. The climate here is more congenial to 
English constitutions, and is favourable to great bodily- 
exertion. The extreme rarity of the atmosphere, 
however, owing to the great elevation of the plain, is 
at first very oppressive to strangers, occasioning a dif- 
ficulty of breathing, and an unpleasant sensation at 
the chest. After a few days, this subsides. The 
seasons here are divided into rainy and dry, forming 
two winters and two summers. The dry season 
begins with the solstices ; the wet, with the equinoxes, 
varying ten or fifteen days. March, April, May, Sep- 
tember, October, November, are reckoned winter 
months, during which fall almost incessant rains. The 
mornings, from day-break to eight o'clock, are then 
piercingly cold, the thermometer frequently down to 
47°, though it in general keeps between 58° and 63°. 
In summer, during the warmest time, it varies from 
68° to 70°. June, July, and August are showery. 
N.N.W. winds invariably bring storms. But, during 
the dry season, the heavens are for the most part 
beautifully serene and unclouded, and the dews are so 
light, that the usual lounge of the inhabitants is by 
moonlight. Upon the whole, the climate may be 
regarded as salubrious. Epidemics are unknown, and 
the diseases to which the natives are subject, are 
attributable to other causes than the air. 



FALL OF TEQUENDAMA. 

44 The elevated plain on which Bogota stands," 
says M. Humboldt, 64 resembles, in a variety of cir- 
cumstances, that which is surrounded by the Mexican 
lakes. Each of these plains is higher than the summit 



S28 



COLOMBIA. 



of St. Bernard, the first being about 8,800 feet, and 
the second 7^440 feet above the level of the ocean. 
The valley of Mexico is bounded by a circular wall of 
mountains of porphyry, and its centre is covered with 
water ; for the numerous torrents which rush into the 
valley found no outlet, until the Europeans had dug 
the canal of Huehuetoca. The plain of Bogota is 
also encircled with lofty mountains ; and the perfect 
level of the soil, its geological structure, the form 
of the rocks of Suba and Facatativa, which rise like 
small islands in the midst of the savannas, seem all 
to indicate the existence of an ancient lake. The 
River of Funzha, usually called the Rio de Bogota, 
into which flow the waters of the valley, forced its 
way through the mountains to the south-west of 
Bogota. Near the farm of Tequendama, this river 
rushes from the plain by a narrow outlet into a 
crevice, which descends towards the basin of the 
River Magdalena. Were an attempt made to close 
this passage, which is the sole opening out of the 
valley of Bogota, these fertile plains would gradually 
be converted into a sheet of water like the Mexican 
lake." 

This wonder of the country, the celebrated fall of 
Tequendama, was, of course, visited by each of our 
Travellers. The road to it lies across the plain, in a 
S.W. direction, to the village of Soacha, distant three 
leagues and a half, in the neighbourhood of which are 
said to have been found some fossil remains of ele- 
phants. Here there is an inn. About half a league 
farther, the traveller arrives at the River Bogota, on 
the banks of which is a village where he may be 
accommodated with fresh horses and a guide. From 
the river to the fall is nearly a league. The road lies 
over a ridge of mountains bounding the plain to the 



COLOMBIA. 



329 



south-west, from the summit of which is gained a 
commanding view of the level country. A large por- 
tion of it being inundated at the time that one 
of our Travellers visited it, it had all the appearance 
of an extensive lake, with variously -shaped hills rising 
abruptly from its waters. Having ascended the 
heights of Chipa, the country becomes all at once 
most luxuriant in wood, and wild shrubs of pecu- 
liar beauty. A long, winding descent leads from the 
corn -lands through a dark thicket, in which the oak, 
the elm, and other trees which recall the vegetation of 
Europe, mingle with the cinchona (bark-tree), the 
bigonia, and others peculiar to these regions. Here, 
at a considerable distance, is heard the roaring of the 
waters. Suddenly the traveller discovers, as from a 
terrace, far beneath him, a tract of country producing 
the palm-tree, the banana, and the cane. A quarter 
of a mile from the Salto, you leave your horses, and 
descend by a precipitous pathway to the brink of the 
precipice, where the river, which at a short distance 
is 140 broad, having contracted itself into a narrow 
but deep bed of only 40 feet in width, precipitates 
itself with violence down a perpendicular rock, at two 
bounds, to the immense depth of 650 feet. " This 
overwhelming body of water," says our Traveller, 
" when it first parts from its bed, forms a broad arch 
of a glassy appearance; a little lower down it assumes 
a fleecy form ; and ultimately, in its progress down- 
wards, shoots forth into millions of tubular shapes, 
which chase each other more like sky-rockets than 
any thing else I can compare them to. The changes 
are as singularly beautiful as they are varied, owing to 
the difference of gravitation and the rapid evaporation 
which takes place before reaching the bottom. The- 
noise with which this immense body of water falls, is 



330 COLOMBIA. 

quite astounding ; sending up dense clouds of vapour, 
which rise to a considerable height, and mingle with 
the atmosphere, forming in their ascent the most 
beautiful rainbows. The most conclusive proof of the 
extraordinary evaporation, is the comparatively small 
stream which runs off from the foot of the fall. To 
give you some idea of its tremendous force, it is an 
asserted fact, that experiments have more than once 
been made of forcing a bullock into the stream, and 
that no vestige of him has been found at the bottom, 
but a few of his bones. To give due effect to this 
mighty work, nature seems to have lavished all the 
grand accompaniments of scenery, to render it the 
most wonderful and enchanting of objects. From the 
rocky sides of its immense basin, hung with shrubs 
and bushes, numerous springs and tributary streams 
add their mite to the grand effect. At the bottom, 
the water which runs off rushes impetuously along a 
stony bed, overhung with trees, and loses itself in 
a dark winding of the rock. From the level of the 
river, where you stand to witness this sublime scene, 
the mountains rise to a great height, and are com- 
pletely covered with wood ; and at one opening is an 
extensive prospect, which, on a clear day, encom- 
passes some distant mountains in the province of 
Antioquia, whose summits are clothed with perpetual 
snow. Hovering over the frightful chasm, are various 
birds of the most beautiful plumage, peculiar to the 
spot, and differing from any I have before seen." 

The crevice into which the river throws itself, 
communicates with the plains of the tierra caliente, 
and a few palm-trees have sprung up at the foot of 
the cataract ; so that, while the plain of Canoas is 
covered with grain, and other productions of the tem- 
perate zone, in the ravine beneath are seen the trees 



COLOMBIA. 



331 



of the equinoctial valleys ; and the inhabitants of 
Bogota tell you, that the river falls at once from a cold 
climate to a warm one. The mere difference of height, 
however, Humboldt remarks, is not sufficient to ac- 
count for this difference of temperature. It takes 
three hours to descend to the ravine of La Povasa. 
" Although the river loses, in falling, a great part of 
its water, which is reduced to vapour, the rapidity of 
the lower current* obliges the spectator to keep at 
the distance of nearly 450 feet from the basin dug out 
by the fall. A few feeble rays of noon fall on the 
bottom of the crevice. The solitude of the place, the 
richness of the vegetation, and the dreadful roar that 
strikes upon the ear, contribute to render the foot of 
the cataract of Tequendama one of the wildest scenes 
that can be found in the Cordilleras." The column 
of vapour, rising like a thick cloud, is seen from the 
walks round Bogota at five leagues' distance. 

The fall is not, Humboldt says, as is commonly be- 
lieved, the loftiest on the globe, but there scarcely 
exists a cataract which, from so great a height, preci- 
tates an equal mass of waters. The combination of 
sublimely picturesque scenery which it presents is 
absolutely unrivalled; and the traveller is not sur- 
prised, that the rude tribes of the aborigines should 
have ascribed the whole to a miraculous origin. The 
following is the legend connected with the place. 

" In the remotest times, before the Moon accom- 
panied the Earth, according to the mythology of the 
Muysca or Mozca Indians, the inhabitants of the 
plain of Bogota lived like barbarians, naked, without 
agriculture, without any form of laws or worship. 

* From the termination of the fall, the river assumes the names 
of Rio de la Mesa, Rio de Tocayma, and Rio del Colegio. It has still 
a fall of nearly 6,900 feet before it reaches the Magdalena, which 
is about 450 feet in every league* 



332 



COLOMBIA. 



Suddenly there appeared among them an old man, who 
came from the plains situate on the east of the Cordil- 
lera of Chingasa, and who appeared to be of a race 
unlike that of the natives, having a long and bushy 
beard. He was known by three distinct appellations, 
Bochica, Nemquetheba, and Zuhe. This old man, 
like Manco-Capac, instructed men how to clothe 
themselves, build huts, till the ground, and form 
themselves into communities. He brought with him 
a woman, to whom also tradition gives three names, 
Chia, Yubecayguaya, and Huythaea. This woman., 
extremely beautiful and not less malignant, thwarted 
every enterprise of her husband for the happiness of 
mankind. By her skill in magic, she swelled the 
River Funzha, and inundated the valley of Bogota. 
The greater part of the inhabitants perished in this 
deluge ; a few only found refuge on the summits of 
the neighbouring mountains. The old man, in anger, 
drove the beautiful Huythaea far from the Earth, and 
she became the Moon, which began from that epoch 
to enlighten our planet during the night. Bochica ? 
moved with compassion for those who were dispersed 
over the mountains, broke with his powerful arm the 
rocks that enclosed the valley on the side of Canoas 
and Tequendama. By this outlet, he drained the 
waters of the Lake of Bogota. He built towns, intro- 
duced the worship of the Sun, named two chiefs, 
between whom he divided the civil and ecclesiastical 
authority, and then withdrew himself, under the 
name of Idacanzas, into the holy valley of Iraca, near 
Tunja, where he lived in the exercise of the most 
austere penitence for the space of 2,000 years."* 

In this Indian fable, there is a remarkable analogy 
to the traditions found among many nations oi" the 
Old Continent ; and Bochica answers to the Quetzal- 
* Humboldt., Researches, vol. i. pp. 72 — & 



COLOMBIA. 



333 



coatl of the Mexicans, the Mango-Capac of the Peru- 
vians, and the Paye Zome of the Brazilian tribes. 

LAKE OF GUATAVITA. 

Another of the natural curiosities in this pro- 
vince is the Lake of Guatavita, situated in a wild and 
solitary spot on the ridge of the mountains of Zipa- 
quira, and supposed to have been held in religious 
veneration by the Indians, who repaired thither for 
the purpose of ablution. In this lake, according to 
tradition, lie concealed immense treasures, which the 
natives are said to have thrown into it when Quesada 
appeared with his cavalry on the plain of Cundina- 
marca ; and the draining of it has always been a 
favourite project. Senor Pepe Paris, who is at pre- 
sent the director of the draining, has expended large 
sums of money in the process. The Spaniards had 
once got within fourteen feet of the bottom, when 
the sides fell in with a tremendous crash; and the 
lagoon having springs in it, the waters began to rise. 
But, by examining the banks, and washing the mud and 
soil, they procured a sufficient sum to pay the Govern- 
ment a quinta of 170,000 dollars (a quinta is three 
per cent); and one emerald procured, and sent to 
Madrid, was alone valued at 70,000 dollars. 

An old Spaniard, sounding in the centre, drew up 
with the lead a small branch of a tree, covered with 
mud, in which was found a golden image worth about 
100 dollars. This is the image, we apprehend, which 
the Author of Letters from Colombia saw at a gentle- 
man's house at Bogota, and which had been recovered 
from the lake : "it was about three inches in height, 
and resembled the objects of Hindoo worship." 
Having paddled round the shores of the lake," con- 
u 2 



334 



COLOMBIA. 



tinues Capt. Cochrane, 4i we landed, and commenced 
examining the works which were now going on, as a 
kind of tunnel. We found the strata to be chiefly 
slate and grey sand -stone; but saw no volcanic appear- 
ances. I at once perceived why the sides had fallen 
in. The slate strata lay in flakes, at about twenty 
degrees from the perpendicular, against the edges of 
which the water struck, and gradually carrying away 
piece by piece, undermined the sides, which conse- 
quently fell in. I pointed it out, and proposed plank- 
ing the sides, in which Senor Rivero concurred ; but 
we could not persuade our friend Pepe that this was 
requisite. The distance required to be cut, I found 
to be about forty yards, which might easily be done 
with proper care, and an expense of perhaps 2,000 
dollars."* 

On the edge of the conical summit in which the 
lagoon is situated, our Traveller saw " two of the 
sepulchres of the caciques hewn in the sand-stone." 
Capt. Cochrane subsequently visited " innumerable 
spots where the Indians used to bury their dead, and 
found," he says, 64 that the burial-places of the chiefs had 
been always chosen on commanding summits overlook- 
ing the plains, and that they were generally interred 
singly ; whereas the lower class were buried in large 
caverns formed for that purpose some hundreds of 
feet below." He obtained permission to open a con- 
siderable number of these guacas or sepulchres, and 
he describes one which appears to have been made for 
a chief. u The spot was indicated by a small hollow 
appearance in the ground. After removing about a 
foot of turf and earth, we came to an amazingly large 
stone, about twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and 

* Capt. Cochrane succeeded, by opening the canal, in lowering 
the lake ten feet, but he did not stay to complete the undertaking- 



COLOMBIA. 



335 



nine inches thick ; it was a kind of sand-stone ; this 
we were obliged to break, and with great difficulty 
removed, when in two pieces. It had rested on a 
shelf piece all round ; the grave was formed in sand- 
stone. We at first came to earth, and then to finely 
variegated sand, rammed down so hard, as to appear 
almost an integral part of the sand-stone, but mani- 
festly different, as it crumbled to fine dust when once 
broken out, whereas the natural strata adhere more 
firmly together. After digging down for about eight 
feet, we came to earthenware, of a rough description, 
and rudely painted, some of which had been used for 
water, others for cooking utensils, from the evident 
marks of fire on them ; the whole contained nothing 
but sand. I was obliged to erect a windlass, and use 
buckets to send the sand up in. At about fourteen 
feet depth we met with some human bones, the thigh 
and arm-pieces, but no scull or teeth ; and after con- 
tinuing our labour to the depth of thirty feet, we 
reached the original native strata. All the graves I 
opened, yielded nothing but earthenware, called by 
the natives losa ; from which I am led to believe, that, 
on the death of an Indian, all his riches were thrown 
into the Lake of Guatavita, in honour of the deity ; 
for in other parts, where they have no holy place of 
worship, their wealth has been found buried in their 
graves with them. In Peru, large fortunes have been 
made, by discovering the cemetery of a chief ; and 
some were so deep, as to render it necessary to work 
them by candle-light."* And here, tradition reports, 

* The geological character of this cavernous tract of country 
deserves to be investigated. Some of these Indian caves contain 
nitr£. The fact of their being used as places of sepulture by the 
aborigines is highly curious. The whole formation is probably 
sand-stone* which prevails in this neighbourhood, 



336 



COLOMBIA. 



that tliere exists a cave, connected with the worship 
of the lagoon, at the entrance of which formerly stood 
44 two golden figures as large as life.*' A Spanish sol- 
dier who first wandered to the place, cut off one of 
the fingers, when he was attacked by the natives, 
wounded, and with difficulty made his escape. Having 
related what he had seen, a strong party proceeded to 
the spot, but no figures were to be found, nor could 
they discover the entrance to the cave I From this 
spot there is a magnificent view, — c ' verdant plains 
stretching at your feet, various collateral ridges of 
mountains in parallel lines appearing to the* west- 
ward, and the rear closed by the Andes themselves." 
At the village of Yousa, distant a day's journey, are 
two salt springs : the waters from the evaporation of 
which the mineral is obtained, come from the direc- 
tion of the famous rock-salt mines of Zipaquira. Both 
these springs and the salt mines were about to be worked 
by Col. Johnston and Mr. Thompson, under whose 
management they were expected to be rendered ex- 
tremely profitable. Fine emeralds have been found in 
this neighbourhood.* At the village of Muniquira, 
near the small town of Liva, are copper mines, which, 
Captain Cochrane thinks, might be rendered very 
valuable. The ore is rich, yielding from sixty to 
seventy per cent. It is about three days' journey 
from Bogota. Not far from Liva is the celebrated 
church and monastery of Chiquinquira, round which 

* The emerald mines of Muso have been granted by Government 
on lease to Senor Rivero. " Small emeralds," Captain Cochrane 
says, " are so plentiful, that it is a common thing to purchase 
poultry 7 , merely to kill them hi search of emeralds, which they are 
fond of : several are often found in the entrails of a large fowl, and 
sometimes in a very pure and perfect slate, though most generally 
flawed and very small,, consequently of no intrinsic value.'' 



COLOMBIA. 



337 



a small town has sprung up, with a population of 1,000 
souls. The church is a handsome building, but 
inferior to the cathedral of Bogota. The miraculous 
picture of the Virgin, which is the object of devotion 
to pilgrims, is a very bad painting, stuck over with a 
profusion of very small emeralds and some still smaller 
diamonds. It is concealed by a rich veil, which is drawn 
up with much ceremony to gratify the eyes of pil- 
grims. By this craft, the friars are said to gain 
immense wealth in presents of jewels, which, as trus- 
tees for the Virgin, they convert into cash as soon as 
they can, taking care to save appearances, by sending 
them for sale to some distant province. The hall of 
the monastery is hung round with some fifty or 
sixty small paintings, representing miracles performed 
by Our Lady of Chiquinquira. On leaving this place, 
Captain Cochrane had proceeded about a league, when 
he met several persons dismounted and on their knees, 
their faces turned towards the towers of this famous 
sanctuary. He was told that it was customary for 
pilgrims to dismount at every mile, after coming in 
sight of it ! A fine plain, about twenty leagues long- 
by five broad, commences at this distance from Chi- 
quinquira, the greater part of which is occupied by a 
shallow lake, called the Lake of Foucany, which it is 
proposed to drain and cultivate. 



NATURAL BRIDGES OF ICONONZO. 

At two days' journey from Bogota, in the road to 
Popayan, are the famous natural bridges of Icononzo, 
described by Humboldt in his Picturesque Atlas. This 
spot was visited by M. Mollien. The road, which 
lies in a S.E. direction, is one of the most difficult 
and least frequented in the whole country. " The 



338 



COLOMBIA. 



traveller," says M. Humboldt, " must feel a passion- 
ate enthusiasm for the beauties of nature, who prefers 
the dangerous descent of the desert of San Fortunato, 
and the mountains of Fusagasuga, leading towards the 
natural bridges of Icononzo, to the usual road by the 
Mesa de Juan Diaz, to the banks of the Magdalena." 
Climbing, after much fatigue and difficulty, the Alio 
de Honda, M, Mollien arrived, at the end of two 
days, at the village of Mercadillo (or Pandi), founded 
a few years ago for the purpose of attracting thither 
the scattered Indian population of these burning 
valleys. In an hour from this place, he reached the 
bridge ; but we must take our description of it from 
Humboldt. 

" The valley of Icononzo,* or Pandi, is less remark- 
able for its dimensions than for the singular form 
of its rocks, which seem to have been carved by the 
hand of man. Their naked and barren summits pre- 
sent the most picturesque contrast with the tufts of 
trees and shrubs, which cover the brinks of the 
crevice. The small torrent which has made itself 
a passage through the valley of Icononzo, is called 
Rio de la Suma Paz : it falls from the eastern chain 
of the Andes, which divides the basin of the Magda- 
lena from the vast plains of the Meta, the G-uaviare, 
and the Orinoco. The torrent, confined in a bed 
almost inaccessible, could not have been crossed with- 
out extreme difficulty, had not nature provided two 
bridges of rocks. The deep crevice through which it 
rushes, is in the centre of the valley of Pandi. Near 
the bridge, the waters keep their direction from 

* « « Icononzo is the name of an ancient village of the Muysca 
Indians, at the southern extremity of the valley, of which only a 
few scattered huts now remain." 



COLOMBIA. 



339 



E. to W., for a length of between 4 and 5,000 yards. 
The river forms two beautiful cascades at the point 
where it enters the crevice on the west of Doa, and 
where it escapes in its descent towards Melgar. This 
crevice was probably formed by an earthquake, and 
resembles an enormous vein from which the mineral 
substance has been extracted. The neighbouring 
mountains are of grit-stone (sand-stein), with a clay 
cement. In the valley of Icononzo, this grit-stone is 
composed of two distinct rocks ; one, extremely com. 
pact and quartzose, with a small portion of cement, 
and scarcely any fissures of stratification, lies on a 
schistous grit-stone with a fine grain, and divided into 
an infinite number of small strata, extremely thin, 
and almost horizontal. It is probable, that the com- 
pact stratum resisted the shock which rent these 
mountains, and that it is the continuity of this 
stratum which forms the bridge. This natural arch 
is forty-six feet in length and nearly forty in breadth : 
its thickness in the centre is about seven feet. Ex- 
periments carefully made, gave us 312 feet for the 
height of the upper bridge above the level of the tor- 
rent. The Indians of Pandi have formed, for the 
safety of travellers, (who, however, seldom visit this 
desert country,) a small balustrade of reeds, which 
extends along the road leading to this upper bridge. 

u Sixty feet below this natural bridge is another, 
to which we are led by a narrow pathway, which 
descends upon the brink of the crevice. Three enor- 
mous masses of rock have fallen so as to support each 
other. That in the middle forms the key of the arch ; 
an accident which might have given the natives an 
idea of arches in masonry, — as unknown to the people 
of the New World as it was to the ancient Egyptians. 
I shall not attempt to decide the question, whether 



340 



COLOMBIA. 



these masses of rock have been projected from a great 
distance, or whether they are the fragments of an 
arch broken on the spot, but originally like the upper 
natural bridge. The latter conjecture seems probable, 
from a similar event which happened to the Coliseum 
at Rome, where, in a half-ruined wall, several stones 
were stopped in their descent, because, in falling, 
they accidentally formed an arch. In the middle of 
the second bridge of Icononzo is a hollow of more than 
eight yards square, through which is perceived the 
bottom of the abyss. The torrent seems to flow 
through a dark cavern, whence arises a lugubrious 
noise, caused by the numberless flights of nocturnal 
birds that haunt the crevice, and which we were led 
at first to mistake for those bats of gigantic size so well 
known in the equinoctial regions. Thousands of them 
are seen flying over the surface of the water. The 
Indians assured us, that these birds are of the size of 
a fowl, with a curved beak and an owl's eye. They 
are called cacas ; and the uniform colour of their 
plumage, which is a brownish gray, leads me to think, 
that they belong to the genus of the caprimulgus, the 
species of which are so various in the Cordilleras. It 
is impossible to catch them, on account of the depth 
of the valley ; and they can be examined only by 
throwing down rockets, to illumine the sides of the 
crevice. 

" The height of the natural bridge of Icononzo 
above the ocean, is 2,850 feet. A phenomenon similar 
to the upper bridge, exists in the mountains of Vir- 
ginia, in the county of Rockbridge. The natural 
bridge of Cedar Creek, in Virginia, is a calcareous 
arch of fifty-six feet at its opening : its height above 
the waters of the river is 224 feet. The earthen 
bridge of Rumichaca, on the declivity of the por- 



COLOMBIA. 



341 



phyritic mountains of Chumban, in the province of 
Los Pastos ; the bridge of Madre de Dios, or Danto, 

i near Totonilco, in Mexico ; the pierced rock near 
Grandola, in the province of Alentejo, in Portugal ; 

! are geological phenomena, which bear some resem- 
blance to the bridge of Icononzo. But I doubt 

! whether, in any part of the globe, a phenomenon has 

I been discovered so extraordinary as that of the three 

j masses of rocks, which support each other by forming 
a natural arch." * 

In travelling from Bogota to the valley of the 
Cauca, there are two routes ; one either by the Mesa 
and Tocayma, or by Icononzo, traversing the valley of 
the Magdalena, and crossing the central chain by the 
paramo of Guanacas ; the other by Ibague and Car- 

! tago, and across the mountain of Quindiu, which is 
partially described by Humboldt. The latter was 
taken by Captain Cochrane in returning to the 

I coast. 

• 

FROM BOGOTA TO CARTAGO. 

I f > ??* . »•- >x-e~- r ;;?* t^ff'-s - v v'» »> t i. 'h- Ian 1 

On the 11th of December, 1824, Captain Cochrane 
left the capital, and stopped for the night at the vil- 
lage of Fontabon in the plain. At three hours' dis- 
tance from that place, the road enters the Boca del 
Monte^ a gap in the parapet of hills, from which a 
spiral road winds down a deep and romantic glen to 
the depth of 3,000 feet. The beginning of the descent 
is formed by slanting steps of stone, ten feet wide, 
eight feet broad, and from a foot to eighteen inches 
deep ; in which, however, there are many gaps and 
great irregularities, so that the traveller will deem it 

* Humboldt, Researches, vol. i. pp. 53— GO. 



342 



COLOMBIA. 



prudent to lead his horse. At about 2,000 feet below 
the plain, the road leads along a ridge of mountains 
entirely covered with trees bearing the campana, a 
species of white bell-flower. The climate is here from 
twelve to fourteen degrees hotter than at Bogota. 
Although there is much traffic along this route, the 
roads are so completely cut up, that the baggage-mules 
frequently stick fast in the ruts. Passing through 
Tenja, a small village, our Traveller reached in the 
evening the town of La Mesa. The next day, still 
descending, he arrived at Anapoyma, where he found 
the heat extremely oppressive, the thermometer at 
85° in the shade. The fourth day, he crossed the 
Bogota twice, and lodged at night at the hacienda of 
Penon. The fifth day, he crossed the Fusagasega, 
and went on to the cottage called Cangreco. The 
sixth night, he slept at Los Cosanos de la Honda, and 
early the next morning, crossed the Magdalena, at the 
ferry to La Villa de la Nuestra Senhora de Purifi- 
caeion, in the province* of Neyva, reckoned half-way 
between Neyva and Tocaima.* About eight hours 
and a half from Purificaeion, the route crosses the 
Quello (or Cuello), a rapid and strong river, on the 
banks of which travellers are sometimes detained for 
days till it is shallow enough to pass. Three hours 
and a half farther is the city of San Bonifacio de 
Ibague in Mariquita, an inconsiderable place, with a 
population of between 2 and 3,000. " About 130 
years ago, the plains of Ibague were all corn-lands, 
and the superiority of their produce was such as to 
incur the jealousy of the viceroy, who, finding that 
the corn was preferred to that of his own territory, 

* From Purificaeion, Captain C. made an excursion to the gold 
mines of Apone, near Coyamo, but found them not worth the 
trouble of visiting them. 



COLOMBIA. 



343 



sent a mandate for the whole to be destroyed, and the 
mills dismantled." Such is the statement Captain 
Cochrane received, and he saw many of the mill-stones 

; lying about the plain. Here he prepared for his ar- 
duous journey to Cartago across the Quindiu. 

" The mountain of Quindiu," * says Humboldt, 

' " is considered as the most difficult passage in the 

' Cordilleras of the Andes. It is a thick, uninhabited 
forest, which, in the finest season, cannot be traversed 
in less than ten or twelve days. Not even a hut is to 

( be seen, nor can any means of subsistence be found. 

j Travellers, at all times of the year, furnish themselves 
with a month's provision, since it often happens, that, 
by the melting of the snows, and the sudden swell of 
the torrents, they find themselves so circumstanced, 

' that they can descend neither on the side of Cartago, 
nor that of Ibague. The highest point of the road, 
the Garito del Paramo, is 1,450 feet above the level 
of the sea. As the foot of the mountain, towards the 
banks of the Cauca, is only 3,140 feet ; the climate 
there is, in general, mild and temperate. The path- 
way which forms the passage of the cordilleras is only 
about a foot in breadth, and has the appearance, in 
several places, of a gallery dug, and left open to the 
sky. In this part of the Andes, as in almost every 
other, the rock is covered with a thick stratum of 
clay. The streamlets which flow down the mountains, 
have hollowed out gulleys 18 or 20 feet deep. Along 
these crevices, which are full of mud, the traveller is 
forced to grope his passage, the darkness of which is 
increased by the thick vegetation that covers the 
opening above. The oxen, which are the beasts of 
burden commonly made use of in this country, can 

* In lat. 4° 36' N. long. 5° 12' of Paris, 



344 



COLOMBIA. 



scarcely force their way through these galleries, 
some of which are 2,000 yards in length ; and if per- 
chance the traveller meets them in one of these pas- 
sages, he finds no means of avoiding them, but by 
turning back, and climbing the earthen wall which 
borders the crevice, and keeping himself suspended, 
by laying hold of the roots which penetrate to this 
depth from the surface of the ground. 

" We traversed the mountains of Quindiu in the 
month of October 1801, on foot, followed by twelve 
oxen, which carried our collections and instruments, 
amidst a deluge of rain, to which we were exposed 
during the last three or four days in our descent on 
the western side of the Cordilleras. The road passes 
through a country full of bogs, and covered with bam- 
boos. Our shoes were so torn by the prickles which 
shoot out from the roots of these gigantic gramina, that 
we were forced, like all other travellers who dislike 
being carried on men's backs, to go barefooted. This 
circumstance, the continued humidity, the length of 
the passage, the muscular force required to tread in a 
thick and muddy clay, and the necessity of fording deep 
torrents of icy water, render this journey extremely 
fatiguing ; but, however painful, it is accompanied by 
none of those dangers with which the credulity of the 
people alarms travellers. The road is narrow, but the 
places where it skirts precipices are very rare. As 
the oxen are accustomed to put their feet in the same 
tracts, they form small furrows across the road, sepa- 
rated from each other by narrow ridges of earth. In 
very rainy seasons, these ridges are covered with 
water, which renders the traveller's step doubly uncer- 
tain, since he knows not whether he places his foot on 
the ridge or in the furrow. 

u The usual mode of travelling for persons in easy 



COLOMBIA, 



345 



circumstances is in a chair, strapped to the back of 
one of the native porters (cargueros), or men of burden, 
who live by letting- out their backs and loins to travel- 
lers. They talk in this country of going on a man's 
back (andar en cargueros) as we mention going on 
horseback. No humiliating idea is annexed to the 
trade of cargueros; and the men who follow this 
occupation are not Indians, but mulattoes, and some- 
times even whites. It is often curious to hear these 
men, with scarcely any covering, and following an 
employment which we should consider so disgraceful, 
quarrelling in the midst of a forest, because one has 
refused the other, who pretends to have a whiter skin, 
the pompous title of don, or of su merced. The usual 
load of a carguero is six or seven arrobas : those who 
are very strong carry as much as nine arrobas. When 
we reflect," continues Humboldt, " on the enormous 
fatigue to which these miserable men are exposed, 
journeying eight or nine hours a day over a mountain- 
ous country ; when we know, that their backs are 
sometimes as raw as those of beasts of burden ; that 
travellers have often the cruelty to leave them in the 
forests when they fall sick ; that they earn by a jour- 
ney from Ibague to Cartago, only twelve or fourteen 
piasters in from fifteen to twenty -five days ; we are 
at a loss to conceive how this employment of a car- 
guero should be eagerly embraced by all the robust 
young men who live at the foot of the mountains. 
The taste for a wandering life, the idea of a certain 
independence amid forests, leads them to prefer it to 
the sedentary and monotonous labour of cities. The 
passage of the mountain of Quindiu is not the only 
part of South America which is traversed on the backs 
of men. The whole of the province of Antioquia is 
surrounded by mountains so difficult to pass, that they 



346 



COLOMBIA. 



who dislike entrusting themselves to the skill of a 
bearer, and are not strong enough to travel on foot 
from Santa Fe de Antioquia to Bocca de Nares or Rio 
Samana, must relinquish all thoughts of leaving the 
country. I was acquainted with an inhabitant of this 
province so immensely bulky, that he had not met 
with more than two mulattoes capable of carrying 
him ; and it would have been impossible for him to 
return home, if these two carriers had died while he 
was on the banks of the ATagdalena, at Monpox or at 
Honda. The number of young men who undertake 
the employment of beasts of burden at Choeo, Ibague, 
and Medellin, is so considerable, that we sometimes 
met a file of fifty or sixty. A few years ago, when a 
project was formed to make the passage from Naires 
to Antioquia passable for mules, the cargueros pre- 
sented formal remonstrances against mending the 
road, and the Government was weak enough to yield 
to their clamours. The person carried in a chair by 
a carguero^ must remain several hours motionless, and 
leaning backwards. The least motion is sufficient to 
throw down the carrier ; and his fall would be so 
much the more dangerous, as the carguero, too confi- 
dent in his own skill, chooses the most rapid declivi- 
ties, or crosses a torrent on a narrow and slippery 
trunk of a tree. These accidents are, however, rare ; 
and those which happen must be attributed to the 
imprudence of travellers, who, frightened at a false 
step of the carguero, leap down from their chairs."* 

* Researches, vol. i. pp. 61—9. 

The annexed plate, copied from the learned Author's Picturesque 
Atlas, represents the entrance of the mountain near Ibague. In 
the fore-ground, a band of cargueros are coming up. A part of 
the town of Ibague, the great valley of the Magdalena, and the 
eastern chain of the cordilleras, are seen in the back-ground ; and 



COLOMBIA. 



347 



Captain Cochrane was advised by the alcalde to 
take a mule in preference to a sillero (chairman), but 
he had reason sorely to repent of having followed this 
recommendation. On the second day, while his com- 
panion went on smoothly before, and quite dry, he 
found himself left behind, his mule being up to the 
girths in mud, and in momentary danger of stumbling 
or sticking fast. " The road was originally formed 
by the old Spaniards, about eight feet broad, with 
trees laid equally together and well secured, affording 
a very good passage ; but, in consequence of neglect, 
the mountain-torrents have torn away the wood, 
which has not been repaired, and it has become in 
parts so bad and worn, that the present road is from 
twenty to thirty feet below the original level, with 
perpendicular sides, and so narrow, that I was fre- 
quently compelled to draw my feet from the stirrups, 
and lay them close to the ears of the mule, to prevent 
my knees from being crushed by the banks on both 
sides ; the muleteer being obliged to go in advance 
of the laden mule, to cut the banks with a kind of 
straight hoe, in order to make room for the animal to 
pass, although the baggage was laid as much on the 
back as possible." 

In other places, where he was compelled to walk, 
he observed the original line of road far above his 
head, the beams sticking out at the sides. Soon after 
passing a mountain torrent on the third day, his com- 
panion pointed out the spot where a Spanish officer 
met his deserved fate. The road here lies along the 
edge of an abrupt precipice, 1,500 feet in perpendicular 
depth to the river below. The officer, having fastened 

the truncated cone of Colima, covered with perpetual snow, 
appears above the mass of granitic rocks. The small river, forcing 
its way across a thicket of palm-trees, is the Combeima. 



COLOMBIA, 



on an immense pair of mule spurs, was incessantly 
darting the rowels into the hare flesh of the poor siller o 
who carried him. In vain his bearer assured him 
that he could not quicken his pace. Even Indian 
patience, however, may be exhausted, and, on reaching 
this spot, the sillero jerked his inhuman rider from 
his chair into the torrent below, and made his escape 
into the mountain. On the sixth day, Captain 
Cochrane found himself scarcely able to sit his mule, 
having been very ill in the night, with violent vomit- 
ings. This day, he passed the River Quindiu three 
times. On the eighth, he had to descend declivities so 
nearly perpendicular, that " the mules, squatting on 
their hams, slid down twenty or thirty yards, without 
a possibility of stopping themselves, and with immi- 
nent peril to the rider." Twice, in going down such 
a steep, the crupper of the saddle broke, and threw 
him on the mule's neck, where he with difficulty kept 
his seat, owing to the poor animal's having neither 
time nor power for kicking. This night, he reached 
the small village of La Balsa, where he halted a day 
for the mules and peons. On the 10th day,* he 
crossed, at the end of three hours, the Rio Vieja, and, 
three hours farther, came in sight of Cartago, at the 
base of the mountain, which he reached by a descent 
of about an hour and a half. 

Cartago, which bears the title of a city, is well 
situated on the left bank of the River Vieja, a little 
above its junction with the Cauca. There is a cathe- 
dral and two 'parish churches, in good repair, with 
tolerable organs, made by an ingenious native, who is 
almost self-taught. What gave our Traveller the 
greatest pleasure, he says, was a school established on 
the Lancastrian principle, for girls and boys, which 
* Vet the jx>st is said to go frwn Cartago to Ibaguein four days. 



COLOMBIA. 



349 



appeared to be well conducted. The commerce of the 
place is nearly confined to sending dried beef and live 
pigs to Choco, where there are scarcely any cattle, as 
the pasturage there will not support them. Coffee is 
grown in great abundance, but only for home con- 
sumption. The cacao of the plains of Cartago is far 
superior to that of Guayaquil, and both the sugar-cane 
and tobacco flourish luxuriantly. The whole district 
is rich in mineral productions, and the hills contain 
nitre. But, owing to the want of convenient outlets, 
and the great expense of conveyance to Buenaventura, 
the nearest port, the produce of this fertile valley 
cannot be turned to account, and the cultivation is 
confined to the heme demand. The magnificent River 
Cauca flows through the whole of these plains, but is 
navigable only in particular places. Among other 
natural productions in this valley, is the herb called 
cabucci) the juice of which is said to be a specific for 
all wounds, ulcers, and gangrenes. There are three 
species, the Mexican, the kind called macho^ and the 
embra. In Venezuela, the plant is called cocaisa. 

FROM CARTAGO TO CITERA. 

On leaving Cartago, Captain Cochrane had to cross 
a second range of mountains to reach Choco. He 
now thought it prudent to provide himself with a 
sillerO) but, owing to the desertion of one of his peons^ 
he was obliged, on the third day, to dismount, and let 
the bearer carry his trunk, till the stock of provisions 
grew light enough to allow of a spare man of burden ; 
he then had his sillero again. Incessant torrents of 
rain aggravated the difficulties and perils of the road. 
u How often," exclaims our Traveller, " while I was 
scarcely ab 1 * to keep my seat from soreness of limbs, 

PART II. X 



350 



COLOMBIA. 



and the rain falling in torrents, did I wish myself safe j 
ont of these mountains ; and vow never to cross them | 
again !" Both he and his peons were sometimes so 
ill, as to be scarcely able to proceed. One day they { 
were in want of water, when the sillero conducted 
our Traveller to a guadua-tree, in which he made an i 
incision, and water flowed in abundance. " Applying 
my mouth to the orifice," he says, u I quenched my 
thirst with the fluid, which was clear and delicious. 
Each joint of this tree contains about two gallons of 
water.'" On the 10th day, the route lay directly along | 
a ridge of mountains leading clown to Las Juntas, \ 
u My sillero," continues Captain Cochrane, tc being 
sufficiently recovered to carry me, I was mounted in | 
my chair, when suddenly, about noon, he turned 
round, and began descending an almost perpendicular 
declivity, backwards. My face was thus turned to 
the abyss below, the bottom of which was 2,000 feet 
from the place where we were, with a platform sixty 
feet beneath us, about twelve feet square. My sillero 
commenced his descent, holding by the roots of trees, 
sometimes with only one hand, whilst with the other 
he was scratching with his pole, of hardened wood 
pointed (which all the peons have in these moun- I 
tainous parts), a place for his foot to rest on at his 
next step. I had been taken by surprise, and called I 
out to him, as soon as possible, to set me down ; but I 
he desired me to sit quite still, if I had any regard for j 
my safety, with which I complied, and we eventually 
reached the small platform below without accident. 

" We here halted for some time before we again j 
proceeded. The road continued along this lower 
ridge ; the path at first nearly fourteen feet wide, but 
gradually narrowing to about two feet, and continu- 
ing so with but little variation for some distance; the 



COLOMBIA. 



351 



sides of the mountain being nearly perpendicular, and 
the trees growing thickly on them, up to the very 
edge of our path on either side. Occasionally, where 
the trees allowed, we had a picturesque and com- 
manding view of the deep vales beneath, and the 
towering mountains that surrounded them ; whilst a 
boisterous and foaming torrent dashed below, on both 
sides of the mountain we traversed, hurrying on the 
same course as ourselves to the termination of the 
ridge, at Las Juntas ; and adding, by its silvery ap- 
pearance and sparkling foam, to the magnificence of 
the striking scenery." 

Las Juntas derives its name from the confluence of 
the mountain streams, which here form the River 
Tamina. Here he embarked in a canoe, and, for an 
hour and a half, glided with rapidity down the stream, 
passing many dangerous shoals and rapids, to La 
Cabezera* The river is then for two leagues navi- 
gable only by rafts, owing to the falls and rapids. 
At a place called Gruaybal, our Traveller was glad to 
discharge his peons, except his sillero, on embarking 
for Novita. In that u miserable town," he was de- 
tained for six days, while a messenger was despatched 
to order a canoe to come to the Tambo of San Pablo, 
on the Citera side of the isthmus of San Pablo. The 
population of Novita is nearly all black, amounting 
to about 1,000 souls. At length he again embarked, 
and was rapidly carried down the Tamina for three 
hours to its junction with the Rwer San Juan, by 
which, in three days, you may arrive at the PacifiG 
Ocean. 

At this junction, the San Juan is about 400 yards 
broad ; but, as our Traveller now began to ascend it, 
changing his course from south to west, it became 
narrower, shallower, and more rapid, Soon after 



352 



COLOMBIA. 



sunset, he reached San Pablo, and, after passing some 
gold mines, crossed over to the Tambo on the Novita 
side. The next day, he had again occasion for his 
sillero in crossing the isthmus by a woodland path, 
originally formed of timbers placed lengthways, but 
horribly out of repair. In some places, the sillero had 
to cross over bridges of a single log, where, if his foot 
had slipped, his rider would have had his neck broken. 
After an hour's travelling, they reached the rising 
ground which divides the San Juan from the stream 
of Citera, between which it is proposed to cut a canal 
that would connect the two oceans. M I particularly 
inspected it," says Capt. Cochrane, " and found the 
distance from one stream to another to be about 400 
yards, and the height of the ground to be cut through, 
about 70 feet. But, after digging a very few feet, 
you come to solid rock, which would make the under- 
taking expensive. Besides, it would be necessary to 
deepen each stream for about a league; so that, I 
think, the least cost would be 500,000 dollars, to 
make a good communication between the Atrato and 
the San Juan." It is an hour's walk from this place 
to the Tambo of Citera. Again embarking, he de- 
scended the very shallow and narrow stream of the 
San Pablo for two hours, till, being joined by the 
Eapadura from the north-east, the river becomes 
broader and deeper : a little lower, it assumes the 
name of the Quito. Early on the third morning, he 
reached Citera, a miserable town on the right bank 
of the Atrato, in the midst of swamps.* On the 12th 

* From this place to the mouths of the Atrato, nearly the whole 
tract consists of tierras baldias (unappropriated lands) ; but, till 
within three days' journey of the entrance, there is no ground 
that could be cultivated : "on landing on either bank, and walk- 
ing fifty yards, you arrive at an impenetrable morass." 



COLOMBIA. 



353 



of March, he embarked in a champan on this noble 
river ; passed, during the night of the 15th, the 
mouth of the River Niapippi ; and, on the 19th, sailed 
through the Barbacoa, one of the nine mouths of the 
Atrato, * into the Gulf of Darien. Contrary winds 
detained him for some days, but at length, on the 
27th, he safely and joyfully landed at Cartagena. 

With regard to the proposed communication between 
the two oceans by means of the Niapippi, Captain 
Cochrane conceives that Baron Humboldt must have 
been misinformed as to its feasibility. A Colombian 
officer, who had crossed over to Panama by that route, 
stated, that he found the Niapippi shallow, rapid, and 
rocky ; that the land-carriage to the port of Tupica, 
(instead of being over level ground,) crosses three 
sets of hills ; and that he could perceive no possibility 
of a communication between the Niapippi and the 
Pacific Ocean. As to the other line of navigation, 
M. Humboldt states, that the cure of a village near 
Novita, had actually employed his parishioners to dig 
a small canal through the quebrada de la Raspadura, 
and that by this means, during the rainy season, 
canoes had actually passed from sea to sea. u This 
interior communication has existed since 1788, un- 
known to Europe. The small canal of Kaspadura 
unites, on the two oceans, two points 75 leagues dis- 
tant from each other." This communication, how- 
ever, Capt. Cochrane says, can never become of great 
utility, from its distance, and the brief season of the 
year in which it is practicable. 

* The main mouth is La Candelaria, but it is beset with sand- 
banks. The Atrato is the same river as the Choco and Darien. 
Its navigation was formerly prohibited by the Spanish govern- 
ment, on pain of death. 

x 2 



354 



COLOMBIA, 



POPAYAN. 

M. Mollien proceeded from Bogota to Popayan 
by way of Guaduas and the Magdalena. His account 
of the route is, however, so indistinct, and his ortho- 
graphy so doubtful, that we are not able to make any 
satisfactory use of it. The situation of Popayan h 
most delightful. The valley, he says, has not the 
gigantic magnificence of that of Bogota ; but the air 
is so pure, the temperature so mild, the soil so fertile, 
that " he would be almost tempted to give it a pre- 
ference over the plateaus of the other cordilleras, if 
the number of disgusting insects, particularly fleas, 
did not render the place almost uninhabitable.'" The 
houses are more handsome than those of Bogota, and 
there are some that would not disgrace the finest 
parts of our European capitals. But the place is in 
decay, and the population greatly diminished. Many 
families struck our Traveller as seeming, from their 
physiognomy, to be of Jewish origin. The number 
of negroes and mulattoes here, is double that of the 
whites. 

From Popayan, M. Mollien took the road to Cali, 
traversing the valley of the €auca. He then crossed 
the mountains to Las Juntas , a village so called from 
the confluence of the Pepita and the Dagua ; and 
descended the latter river to the port of San Buena- 
ventura, on the shores of the Pacific, where he embarked 
on board a schooner for Panama. 

" The great ocean," says M. Mollien, " is almost 
solitary between Lima and Mexico : but few ships are 
met with." The commerce is almost confined to the 
ports of Callao, Guayaquil, Panama, San Bias, and 
Acapulco ; but a coasting trade is carried on by the 



COLOMBIA. 355 

ships of Paita. On the coasts of the South Sea, and 
at the mouth of the Guayaquil, large rafts (balzas) 
have heen used by the Indians from time immemorial, 
for the conveyance of merchandise and for fishing*. 
The annexed plate represents one of these rafts laden 
with the fruits of the country. They are composed 
of eight or nine beams of very light wood, and are 
from fifty to eighty feet in length. 

PANAMA. 

tc Guayaquil," says M. Mollien, u is built of 
wood ; Buenaventura, of straw ; Panama has retained 
something of both kinds of architecture. * At first 
sight, however, this town pleases the European : he 
sees houses of three stories, inhabited by several 
families ; consequently, as in his own country, all is 
noise and bustle." But on a nearer view, the place 
presents very far from pleasing or attractive features. 
The streets are narrow, — much darker, and even 
much dirtier than those of Cartagena. The people 
are excessively uncleanly. The town is in ruins. 
" In some districts, whole streets have been allowed 
! to fall into neglect, and even the military works are 
fast crumbling to decay. Every thing, in short, tells 
the same lamentable story of former splendour and 
of present poverty." " Panama," says Capt. Basil 

* The French Traveller will he thought to have sacrificed here 
correctness to antithesis. Panama still presents the remains of 
magnificent public edifices, among which Captain Basil Hall 
particularises the Jesuits' College, a church and convent, and 
" a gorgeous hath by the side of a dried-up marble fountain." In 
fact, there remain " more genuine traces," he says, (< of that 
luxurious and tasteful splendour which displays itself in fine public 
edifices," at Panama, than even in Lima, the st city of the kings," 
with all its tinsel and pretension. — Hall's Journal, vol. ii» 
| pp. 155-7- 



356 



COLOMBIA. 




Hall, " has flourished for a long series of years, but 
its sun has at last set with the golden flag of Spain, 
the signal of exclusion wherever it waved." 

Here we must close our topographical description 
of the Republic of Colombia. Whole provinces yet 
remain to be explored by European travellers, before 
we can have materials for any thing like a complete 
account of this wonderful country. Ii the mean- 
time, it is not improbable that the territorial boun- 
daries and internal arrangements of the republic may 
undergo some modification. It was our intention, 
agreeably to the intimation given at page 12, to 
close this volume with a brief historical sketch of the 
sanguinary revolution which has ushered in the happy 
era of the national independence ; but we the less 
regret the necessity under which we have found our- 
selves, of omitting this, inasmuch as a fairer oppor- 
tunity will be afforded, in the description of Peru, 
of presenting a complete account of the contest, and, 
we trust, of its final and successful termination. At 
the same time, we shall probably be able to furnish 
some description of the southern provinces of Colombia, 
which were once politically, and may still be consi- 
dered as geographically, connected with that vice- 
royalty. 



THE END. 




BD- 




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